Tour de Ski is the biggest highlight of the 2012/2013 season along with the World Championships – 7 tough stages in 3 countries will show who is the best overall cross country skier in the World Cup circus. The secret behind a victory is not to have a single bad day – just ask Petter Northug who lost the overall tour due to one or two bad stages in the previous editions of Tour de Ski!

The XC-Predictions were a big hit in the previous Tour de Ski editions – this year we  expect more than 200 setting up their predictions for Tour de Ski stages. Remember that the overall Tour de Ski predictions are to be set up ahead of the first stage!

Set up your predictions

Set up your predictions here – or read the preview article below first:

• Overall: Tour de Ski Overall
• #1: Tour de Ski Prologue, 3/4 km Free, Oberhof
• #2: Tour de Ski Stage 2, 9/15 km Pursuit Classic, Oberhof
• #3: Tour de Ski Stage 3, Sprint Free, Val Mustair, Tschierv
• #4: Tour de Ski Stage 4, 35/15 km Pursuit Free, Toblach/Cortina
• #5: Tour de Ski Stage 5, 3/5 km Classic, Toblach/Cortina
• #6: Tour de Ski Stage 6, 10/15 km Classic, Val di Fiemme
• #7: Tour de Ski Stage 7, Final climb (Individual times)
• Overall XC-Prediction results – Tour de Ski 2011/2012 – updated after each stage

Race previews – Tour de Ski overall

Norway has dominated the World Cup this year – but is still chasing its first overall Tour de Ski victory – both in the women’s and men’s classes. Marit Bjørgen was more a favourite than ever – but had to skip Tour de Ski due to health problems. However, Norway still have very good chances for a first overall victory with Petter Northug in the men’s class and Therese Johaug in the women’s class.

Being in a World Championships year, the Tour de Ski is reduced from 9 to 7 stages. Only one sprint race is included in the race series now – this is a significant advantage for non-sprinters like Therese Johaug and Lukas Bauer. Also, the Skiathlon is removed compared to last year’s edition. Is this what it takes to get a Norwegian overall Tour de Ski victory – after many attempts? Or will Cologna, Bauer, Kowalczyk or some of the dark horses take home the biggest title of the year within Cross Country skiing?

The predictions for the overall Tour de Ski are to be set up ahead of the Prologue – so it is time to take a look at the overall favourites:

Women

• Justyna Kowalczyk: Always slow to get in shape at the start of the season – but won both the mass start and skiathlon races in Canmore – and showed impressive shape there even if some of the best skiers were not on the start line. Thus the shape is there for Tour de Ski this year again. and with Bjørgen not at the start line Kowalczyk is the big favourite.
• Therese Johaug: Sprint is her weak point – the last uphill her strong point. Johaug has improved on the sprint – and in addition there is only one sprint in this edition of Tour de Ski. Can it be enough for an overall Tour de Ski victory? Last year Johaug had a bad day in the pursuit in Toblach – with no bad days in this edition of Tour de Ski Johaug may very well be the winner at the top of Alpe Cermis!
• Kikkan Randall: Impressive season so far – improving a lot in distance races. The only woman to finish in the Top 10 in all World Cup races so far this year(!) – of those 7 times Top 6! Compare that to 4 times Top 6 for Kowalczyk or for Johaug. However, the last hill up Alpe Cermis will be tough for Randall – and removing a sprint race is not an advantage. It will be a surprise if Randall will take the overall victory – but a place in the Top 3 is within reach.
• Heidi Weng: The young Norwegian has been compared to Petter Northug – and Therese Johaug has named her one of the favourites to win the overall Tour this year. Weng finished 3rd in the Kuusamo mini tour this year – and has shown that she can deliver good results in all disciplines. She is also strong in the Alpe Cermis. But can she deliver in 9 races in a row?
• Anna Kyllönen: Kyllönen surprised with two 2nd places in the Canmore World Cup rounds (mass start and skiathlon), and has also showed that she can perform in sprint (4th place in Kuusamo classic sprint). Will be interesting to see if this Finnish skier can fight with Kowalczyk and Johaug in the overall Tour de Ski.
• Charlotte Kalla: The Swedish hope – the Tour de Ski winner from 2008 – started the season with a 4th spot in Gällivare but had problems after that. Still an outsider in Tour de Ski if everything goes well!
• Outsiders: Kristin Størmer Steira are outsiders – but a lot must happen in the top if one of these women will top the Tour de Ski results list this year…
• Marit Bjørgen would have been the big favourite in the women’s class, but is not on the start list due to health problems. Vibeke Skofterud is also not on the start list.

Men

• Petter Northug: Northug is again the biggest favourite in this edition of Tour de Ski after impressing performance earlier in the season. Northug has three 2nd places in a row and a 3rd place in the the last editions of Tour de Ski – and is very hungry for an overall victory. Northug won the Kuusamo mini tour earlier this year without any trouble at all – and will want to repeat this in Tour de Ski. In the  last editions of Tour de Ski Northug has not managed to deliver stable performances all stages –  the Cortina-Toblach stage, classic races and some of the sprint races have been troublesome for the Norwegian in the last editions.
• Dario Cologna: Cologna is the second big favourite in this Tour edition although his season opening has not been the best with a 4th place in the Kuusamo mini-tour as his best. However, Cologna has earlier shown that he is a complete skier who can win in all disciplines – and he has the ability to perform consistently well in many races in a row.  Three Tour de Ski victories says it all! Also, Cologna has an edge over Northug up the last stage in Alpe Cermis.
• Alexander Legkov: Legkov is very strong in the distance races, but varies in the sprints. But with only one sprint on the program this year, Legkov is a strong contender for Cologna and Northug.  As for Northug, Legkov has had trouble with stability on multi-day events. However, Legkov is one of the strongest skiers in the last uphill up Alpe Cermis, so if he is close before that race…
• Marcus Hellner: The Swedish hope finished 2nd last year after a very good last stage. Hellner has previously shown that he can perform well in all disciplines – from sprint to the long Cortina-Toblach stage – but the Swede has not impressed in the season opening which gave a 12th place in the Kuusamo mini-tour and a 3rd place in Gällivare. Still one of the big outsiders!
• Maxim Vylegzhanin: The dark horse who can actually take the overall victory if everything goes his way. Has not showed stabil results over many races previously – that might be his problem this year as well. However, the Russian impressed with a second spot in the Kuusamo mini tour.
• Lukas Bauer: Bauer has two Tour de Ski victories, but in addition to not showing optimal shape so far this year, he has two problems: His weakness in sprint and in man-to-man fights. Bauer’s way to victory goes through a good race on Stage 6 from Cortina to Toblach: Here Bauer can fight his way all the way up to the top and gain the time he has lost in the sprint if everything goes his way – and then even an overall Tour victory is possible…
• Outsiders: Roland Clara – strong in Alpe Cermis and showed that the shape is approaching with 2nd spot in the Canmore skiathlon. The Canadians Harvey and Kershav are also among the outsiders althoug they have not performed well so far this year – can do well in both sprint and distance races.

Prologue Preview

This prologue marks the start of the 7th edition of the Tour de Ski – 7 competitions in 9 days in two countries. The prologue is approximately the double length of a regular sprint – 3 km for the women and 4 km for the men (increased by 250 meters from last year).

• The women start from 13:15 CET – the men start from 14:30 CET
• In the 2011/2012 prologue, the big favourites showed their faces already from the start among the men. Petter Northug won ahead of Dario Cologna. The 2010/2011 winner Marcus Hellner finished 4th. Among the women, Justyna Kowalczyk won ahead of Marit Bjørgen with Hanna Brodin (Sweden) in third.
• In the 2010/2011 prologue, Marcus Hellner won the men’s class ahead of a surprisingly strong sprint-specialist Alexey Petukhov (Russia) with Northug in third. Among the women Kowalczyk was again strongest – this time with Charlotte Kalla in second spot.
• In the 2009/2010 prologue, Petter Northug won ahead of Marcus Hellner, Axel Teichmann, Dario Cologna and Sergey Shiriaev among the men. Petra Majdic won ahead of Natalia Korosteleva, Justyna Kowalczyk, Arianna Follis and Miriam Gössner among the women.
• In the 2008/2009 prologue, Axel Teichmann won ahead of Dario Cologna, Petter Northug, Aivar Rehemaa and Devon Kershaw among the men. In the womens class Claudia Nystad won ahead of Arianna Follis, Petra Majdic, Justyna Kowalczyk and Marit Bjørgen.
• Race profile Men:
  
• Race profile Women:
  

Men – previous editions

Name		2012 Tour de Ski 2012-01-08 110 km M	2011 Tour de Ski 2011-01-09 102 km M	2010 Tour de Ski 2010-01-10 102 km M	2009 Tour de Ski 2009-01-04 102 km M	2008 Tour de Ski 2008-01-06 102 km M	2007 Tour de Ski 2007-01-07 102 km M
COLOGNA Dario		1st	1st	3rd	1st	30th
NORTHUG Petter jr.		3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	8th	4th
HELLNER Marcus		2nd	14th	4th		36th	50th
BAUER Lukas		6th	3rd	1st	10th	1st
KERSHAW Devon		4th	7th	16th	20th
LEGKOV Alexander		5th			33rd	20th	2nd
CLARA Roland		19th	5th	21st	27th
PERL Curdin		35th	4th	15th	29th
GAILLARD Jean Marc			6th	5th	6th		36th
MANIFICAT Maurice		7th	17th	19th
JAKS Martin		9th	8th			11th
DI CENTA Giorgio		15th	13th	10th	4th	3rd	20th
HARVEY Alex		12th	10th	22nd
FILBRICH Jens		13th	15th	11th	12th	24th	9th
ANGERER Tobias		11th				14th	1st
VYLEGZHANIN Maxim		8th			15th	21st
CHERNOUSOV Ilia		10th		24th		42nd	18th
RICKARDSSON Daniel			9th	8th	23rd	47th
SOMMERFELDT Rene				6th		2nd	15th
TEICHMANN Axel		39th		7th	3rd	13th
BABIKOV Ivan		27th	21st	9th	35th
GJERDALEN Tord Asle			16th	13th	22nd	4th
JOHNSRUD SUNDBY Martin				20th	8th
OESTENSEN Simen				25th		28th	3rd
ROTCHEV Vassili					5th
PILLER COTTRER Pietro					7th	7th	27th
HETLAND Tor Arne					42nd	5th	5th
DEMENTIEV Eugeniy					9th	9th
JAUHOJAERVI Sami		33rd			9th	34th	7th
GOERING Franz						6th	6th
SVARTEDAL Jens Arne						10th	21st
DEMENTIEV Eugeni							8th
PANKRATOV Nikolai							10th

Women – previous editions

Name		2012 Tour de Ski 2012-01-08 63 km M	2011 Tour de Ski 2011-01-09 60 km M	2010 Tour de Ski 2010-01-10 60 km M	2009 Tour de Ski 2009-01-04 60 km M	2008 Tour de Ski 2008-01-06 60 km M	2007 Tour de Ski 2007-01-07 60 km M
KOWALCZYK Justyna		1st	1st	1st	4th	7th	11th
BJOERGEN Marit		2nd			10th		2nd
JOHAUG Therese		3rd	2nd		6th	14th
MAJDIC Petra			6th	2nd	3rd	18th	6th
LONGA Marianna			3rd	8th	5th		15th
FOLLIS Arianna			4th	3rd	8th	3rd	16th
LAHTEENMAKI Krista		4th	8th
KRISTOFFERSEN Marthe		5th	7th	10th
KALLA Charlotte		7th	5th			1st
SAARINEN Aino- Kaisa		9th	13th	4th	2nd	17th	4th
KUITUNEN Virpi					1st	2nd	1st
ZELLER Katrin		6th	12th	9th	17th	9th
ROPONEN Riitta-Liisa		11th	11th	6th	11th	10th
JACOBSEN Astrid Uhrenholdt		8th	10th			16th
SHEVCHENKO Valentina		14th	16th	19th	14th	4th	3rd
RANDALL Kikkan		10th	21st
STEIRA Kristin Stoermer				5th	9th	11th	7th
ELDEN Marte			9th
SAVIALOVA Olga				7th	21st		14th
SIDKO Alena				9th			29th
ROTCHEVA Olga					19th	5th
HAAG Anna					7th	13th
NYSTAD Claudia					16th	6th
NEUMANNOVA Katerina							5th
SACHENBACHER -STEHLE Evi						8th
SACHENBACHER STEHLE Evi							8th
SKOFTERUD Vibeke W							9th
BAUER Viola							10th