World Cup Splits analysis: Mens 15 km Classic Drammen
Daniel Rickardsson crushed the rest of the field in the last World Cup distance race ahead of the World Champs in Drammen today – nearly half a minute ahead of Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Except for a small time loss up to 1.7 km, Rickardsson was faster than the rest all of the way.
» Who wins the Drammen sprint? Click here to set up your tips for the sprint race tomorrow!
Martin Johnsrud Sundby managed to nearly keep the speed of Rickardsson up to 5 km, but from there on it was Rickardsson and nobody else. That is, except for Petter Northug, who was caught by Rickardsson with 30 seconds around 2/3 through the race, and kept the speed of the Swede all the way until the finish. That lifted Northug from 11th spot and all the way up to a medal spot in the end. Without Rickardsson, I think Northug would probably have finished outside the top 10… Northug had a bad race development – loosing more and more time – before Rickardsson caught him. However, Northug shows that he is in shape and can race fast if he wants to…
- Rickardsson is one of the few runners who manages to ski fast just after returning from an altitude camp, Thomas Alsgaard said to NRK. Can Rickardsson keep this shape in the World Champs? Will the others improve enough to beat the Swede?
Race predictions
It was tricky to predict the results in the mens class today – only 2 persons had set Rickardsson on top – one of them was Aaron Gaio who finished second in the predictions today. On top of todays predictions we had Mats Luspa. This was the first time with new rules – giving 50 bonus points for correct winner, 30 bonus points for correct second spot and 20 bonus points for correct third spot.
