Tour de Ski Alpe Cermis 2012: Women GPS analysis
The above illustration shows a splits analysis of the development in the final Tour de Ski stage up Alpe Cermis 2012 – highlighting how Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) did a fantastic race – crushing Marit Bjørgen (NOR) and everybody else in the toughest part of the hill.
Looking at the GPS-data, we can see how Kowalczyk speeds up around 7.4 km – Bjørgen has no chance to follow:
Therese Johaug stage victory
Therese Johaug (NOR) had the fastest time on the stage, but didn’t repeat last year’s legendary race where she crushed everybody up the alpine hill – winning with 1 minute down to Elden (NOR) in second and with nearly two minutes down to Kowalczyk in third.
Actually Kowalczyk would have been faster up the hill in this year’s edition of the Tour if she wouldn’t have started celebrating just ahead of the finish – this year Johaug took the time from Kowalczyk on the flat part of the stage as you can see in this GPS comparison:
One reason for Kowalczyk’s strong race up the last hill compared to Johaug is the fact that Kowalczyk and Bjørgen had the possibility to rest in the first part of the course, as they had a big +4 minute gap down to Johaug in third.
Marthe Kristoffersen versus Therese Johaug
Marthe Kristoffersen (NOR) had the fourth fastest time up Alpe Cermis after Johaug, Kowalczyk and Bjørgen. As you see from the comparison between Johaug and Kristoffersen, Kristoffersen looses only a few seconds in the flat part, but then looses more than a minute up the hill:
Marthe Kristoffersen did, however, not manage to fight Lähteenmäki in the fight for 4th place. As you can see on the GPS-splits illustration below, Kristoffersen skied at the same speed as Lähteenmäki on the flat part until around 6.2 km, and then was faster in the first part of the hill until 7 km – even passing Lähteenmäki. In the end Lähteenmäki was stronger, and beat Kristoffersen with some seconds in the final sprint.
“Loosers”: Kalla and Randall
Of the 10 skiers carrying a GPS-unit today, Kalla (SWE) and Randall (USA) lost most time. Both of them were in the fight for the 4th place overall. Nearly 3 minutes for Kalla and around 3 minutes for Randall. Both lost most of the time after the big hill started:
Climb times
Times for the final climb up the alpine hill only (from FIS results to be found here):
1. Johaug 19.23.9
2. Kowalczyk 19.34.3
3. Valentina Shevchenko 19.47.7
4. Marit Bjørgen 20.01.05
5. Katrin Zeller 20.19.9
6. Marthe Kristoffersen 20.20.0
7. Elizaberth Stephen 20.22.2
8. Krista Lähteenmäki 20.31.0
9. Ishida Masako 20.53.7
10. Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen 20.57.4
Stage results
See full stage results list from FIS here.
Rank | Name | Nation | Time | FIS pts |
1 | JOHAUG Therese | NOR | 34:17.7 | 0.00 |
2 | KOWALCZYK Justyna | POL | 35:09.0 | 29.92 |
3 | BJOERGEN Marit | NOR | 35:25.7 | 39.66 |
4 | KRISTOFFERSEN Marthe | NOR | 35:28.5 | 41.29 |
5 | SHEVCHENKO Valentina | UKR | 35:31.6 | 43.10 |
6 | ZELLER Katrin | GER | 35:37.3 | 46.42 |
7 | LAHTEENMAKI Krista | FIN | 35:43.2 | 49.86 |
8 | STEPHEN Elizabeth | USA | 35:50.7 | 54.24 |
9 | ROPONEN Riitta-Liisa | FIN | 36:08.6 | 64.67 |
10 | JACOBSEN Astrid Uhrenholdt | NOR | 36:12.5 | 66.95 |
Split times
Below you find timing for each split. Note that Marthe Kristoffersen is missing as one of her splits is missing in the official timing data. Johaug is fast from the start, while Bjørgen and Kowalczyk start very slowly. In the steepest part up Alpe Cermis (split 5), Kowalczyk is 11 seconds faster than Johaug.
You find the 2011 analysis here.
Split 2 only
1. | 04:24 | Therese JOHAUG | NOR | (13:39) | ||
2. | 04:24 | +00:01 | Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN | FIN | (17:27) | |
3. | 04:24 | +00:01 | Astrid Uhrenholdt JACOBSEN | NOR | (16:29) | |
4. | 04:25 | +00:01 | Ingvild Flugstad OESTBERG | NOR | (17:28) | |
5. | 04:25 | +00:02 | Krista LAHTEENMAKI | FIN | (15:11) | |
6. | 04:26 | +00:02 | Maryna ANTSYBOR | UKR | (27:08) | |
7. | 04:26 | +00:03 | Marina MATROSSOVA | KAZ | (27:03) | |
8. | 04:26 | +00:03 | Oxana YATSKAYA | KAZ | (28:11) | |
9. | 04:27 | +00:03 | Tatjana OSSIPOVA | KAZ | (26:02) | |
10. | 04:27 | +00:04 | Larisa SHAIDUROVA | RUS | (22:31) | |
11. | 04:27 | +00:04 | Elizabeth STEPHEN | USA | (21:33) | |
14. | 04:28 | +00:05 | Charlotte KALLA | SWE | (15:06) | |
21. | 04:29 | +00:06 | Aino- Kaisa SAARINEN | FIN | (16:06) | |
40. | 04:36 | +00:13 | Marit BJOERGEN | NOR | (09:15) | |
42. | 04:37 | +00:14 | Justyna KOWALCZYK | POL | (09:15) |
Split 3 only
1. | 06:04 | Therese JOHAUG | NOR | (19:43) | ||
2. | 06:13 | +00:08 | Debora AGREITER | ITA | (28:50) | |
3. | 06:13 | +00:09 | Elizabeth STEPHEN | USA | (27:46) | |
4. | 06:14 | +00:09 | Maria RYDQVIST | SWE | (27:51) | |
5. | 06:14 | +00:10 | Barbara JEZERSEK | SLO | (29:05) | |
6. | 06:14 | +00:10 | Virginia DE MARTIN TOPRANIN | ITA | (25:32) | |
7. | 06:14 | +00:10 | Masako ISHIDA | JPN | (23:55) | |
8. | 06:14 | +00:10 | Anouk FAIVRE PICON | FRA | (26:21) | |
9. | 06:15 | +00:11 | Coraline HUGUE | FRA | (32:56) | |
10. | 06:15 | +00:11 | Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN | FIN | (23:43) | |
11. | 06:15 | +00:11 | Krista LAHTEENMAKI | FIN | (21:27) | |
18. | 06:17 | +00:13 | Aino- Kaisa SAARINEN | FIN | (22:23) | |
24. | 06:19 | +00:15 | Charlotte KALLA | SWE | (21:26) | |
25. | 06:19 | +00:15 | Justyna KOWALCZYK | POL | (15:35) | |
29. | 06:21 | +00:17 | Marit BJOERGEN | NOR | (15:36) |
Split 4 only
1. | 03:08 | Valentina SHEVCHENKO | UKR | (30:24) | ||
2. | 03:10 | +00:02 | Julia IVANOVA | RUS | (28:11) | |
3. | 03:11 | +00:03 | Therese JOHAUG | NOR | (22:54) | |
4. | 03:17 | +00:09 | Marit BJOERGEN | NOR | (18:53) | |
5. | 03:17 | +00:09 | Justyna KOWALCZYK | POL | (18:52) | |
6. | 03:18 | +00:09 | Anouk FAIVRE PICON | FRA | (29:39) | |
7. | 03:18 | +00:09 | Elizabeth STEPHEN | USA | (31:03) | |
8. | 03:18 | +00:10 | Debora AGREITER | ITA | (32:08) | |
9. | 03:21 | +00:12 | Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN | NOR | (25:05) | |
10. | 03:21 | +00:12 | Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN | FIN | (27:03) | |
11. | 03:21 | +00:13 | Holly BROOKS | USA | (36:01) | |
27. | 03:29 | +00:21 | Aino- Kaisa SAARINEN | FIN | (25:52) | |
37. | 03:33 | +00:25 | Krista LAHTEENMAKI | FIN | (25:00) | |
38. | 03:33 | +00:25 | Charlotte KALLA | SWE | (24:59) |
Split 5 only
1. | 11:39 | Justyna KOWALCZYK | POL | (30:30) | ||
2. | 11:50 | +00:11 | Therese JOHAUG | NOR | (34:44) | |
3. | 12:02 | +00:23 | Valentina SHEVCHENKO | UKR | (42:26) | |
4. | 12:09 | +00:30 | Marit BJOERGEN | NOR | (31:02) | |
5. | 12:23 | +00:44 | Katrin ZELLER | GER | (37:45) | |
6. | 12:23 | +00:45 | Elizabeth STEPHEN | USA | (43:27) | |
7. | 12:28 | +00:49 | Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN | NOR | (37:32) | |
8. | 12:32 | +00:53 | Krista LAHTEENMAKI | FIN | (37:31) | |
9. | 12:40 | +01:01 | Masako ISHIDA | JPN | (40:00) | |
10. | 12:51 | +01:13 | Debora AGREITER | ITA | (44:59) | |
11. | 12:53 | +01:14 | Aino- Kaisa SAARINEN | FIN | (38:44) | |
15. | 13:09 | +01:31 | Charlotte KALLA | SWE | (38:08) |
Split 6 only
1. | 04:23 | Therese JOHAUG | NOR | (39:07) | ||
2. | 04:26 | +00:03 | Krista LAHTEENMAKI | FIN | (41:58) | |
3. | 04:28 | +00:05 | Astrid Uhrenholdt JACOBSEN | NOR | (43:42) | |
4. | 04:32 | +00:09 | Marthe KRISTOFFERSEN | NOR | (42:04) | |
5. | 04:33 | +00:10 | Katrin ZELLER | GER | (42:19) | |
6. | 04:36 | +00:13 | Marit BJOERGEN | NOR | (35:37) | |
7. | 04:37 | +00:14 | Barbara JEZERSEK | SLO | (50:54) | |
8. | 04:37 | +00:14 | Julia IVANOVA | RUS | (46:50) | |
9. | 04:38 | +00:15 | Valentina SHEVCHENKO | UKR | (47:04) | |
10. | 04:38 | +00:15 | Riitta-Liisa ROPONEN | FIN | (44:43) | |
11. | 04:39 | +00:16 | Justyna KOWALCZYK | POL | (35:09) | |
17. | 04:45 | +00:22 | Aino- Kaisa SAARINEN | FIN | (43:29) | |
35. | 05:02 | +00:39 | Charlotte KALLA | SWE | (43:10) |