Race preview: Tour de Ski Val Müstair Sprint
The 2012/2013 edition of Tour de Ski has only one sprint race on the program – the skating sprint in the new Tour location Val Müstair in Switzerland. Thus few of the sprint specialists have chosen to start in the Tour, leaving the table mostly open to the all rounders.
This stage is a key stage for the overall Tour – especially in the men’s class as it will lay the foundation for the 35 km long Cortina-Toblach stage. History has shown that it is not important to be among the very first ahead of the Cortina-Toblach stage – but if you are too far down on the start list to get into the fast groups on this long, tough stage, the tour may very well be lost.
Men: Cologna on home ground?
Also look out for overall Tour leader Maxim Vylegzhanin who has some good results from earlier Tour skating sprints
With most sprint specialists – including last year’s winner in the Tour’s skating sprint Nikolay Morilov – not on the start list, Emil Jönsson is probably the biggest favourite in the men’s class. However, Jönsson did not succeed in the corresponding sprint in Toblach last year (finishing 8th) – instead Petter Northug finished 2nd and Dario Cologna 3rd.
In the 2010/2011 edition of Tour de Ski, Devon Kershaw took the victory in the Toblach sprint after two of the big sprinters Jönsson and Petukhov had pulled out of the Tour. Kershaw only narrowly sneaked into the final, taking the second lucky loser spot, but then impressed in the final with by getting a 20 meters gap up the last hill. Again Northug and Cologna took the next two places on the podium – but this time Cologna was the fastest of the duo.
Cologna on home ground for the first time in the Tour de Ski history will be especially motivated to take out the maximum in the Val Müstair sprint – but Northug will not let the Swiss beat him easily. Also look out for overall Tour leader Maxim Vylegzhanin who has some good results from earlier Tour skating sprints. Outsiders are Swedish Marcus Hellner and the Canadians Harvey and Kershaw.
Note also that the course has an uphill finish – being an advantage for the all rounders rather than the pure sprint specialists.
Dario Cologna – Photo WorldofXC.com
Maxim Vylegzhanin – Photo WorldofXC.com
Women: Randall again?
Kowalczyk has had a weak point in skating sprints in the Tour previously
In the women’s class, Kikkan Randall is the big favourite after strong performance in the sprints in Canada. Kowalczyk has had a weak point in skating sprints in the Tour previously – before last year’s third place she was out of the Top 10 three times in a row. Still, Kowalczyk is definitely among the favourites in Val Müstair. Also count in Denise Herrmann from Germany – surprisingly on a strong 4th place overall after 2 stages – with 4th places from last years skating sprint in Toblach and good sprint results from the Canada World Cup round.
Outsiders are Finland’s new star Anne Kyllönen, Swiss Laurien Van der Graff and Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg who also did very well in Canada. And maybe the 2010 Tour de Ski skating sprint winner Natalia Korosteleva can find back to her old shape? Her 6th place in the Quebec skating sprint pointed in the right direction… Charlotte Kalla and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen are both big question marks – they have both shown good results in the discipline in the past, but not lately…
In the overall, Kowalczyk will get another big step closer to overall victory if she does not fail in the Val Müstair sprint. To get excitement into the women’s class, a strong chasing group is needed in the Toblach pursuit race. That means that Norway’s big star Therese Johaug should get some bonus points out of the sprint – a group with Johaug, Herrmann, Kyllönen and Jacobsen would maybe be able to get some seconds off Kowalczyk…?
Kikkan Randall – photo WorldofXC.com
Set up your predictions
Set up your predictions and see results here:
- #1: Results Tour de Ski Prologue, 3/4 km Free, Oberhof
- #2: Results 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 2012/2013 – updated after each stage
Race profile
Women – historical results
| Name | 2012 Canmore 2012-12-15 SP F Final |
2012 Quebec 2012-12-08 SP F Final |
2012 Toblach 2012-01-04 SP F Final |
2011 Toblach 2011-01-05 SP F Final |
2010 Prag 2010-01-04 SP 1.2 km F Final |
2008 Prague 2008-12-29 SP 1.3 km F Final |
2007 Prague 2007-12-30 SP 1 km F Final |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RANDALL Kikkan |  |
2nd | 1st | 2nd | 5th | |||
| KOROSTELEVA Natalia |  |
35th | 6th | 14th | 1st | 10th | ||
| KOWALCZYK Justyna |  |
21st | 3rd | 22nd | 19th | 11th | 6th | |
| HERRMANN Denise |  |
4th | 9th | 4th | 17th | 28th | ||
| OESTBERG Ingvild Flugstad |  |
5th | 4th | 7th | 31st | |||
| FABJAN Vesna |  |
16th | 26th | 5th | 9th | 6th | 9th | 26th |
| KYLLOENEN Anne |  |
12th | 7th | 20th | 23rd | |||
| KRISTOFFERSEN Marthe | |
6th | 15th | 18th | 5th | |||
| KOLB Hanna | |
17th | 30th | 8th | ||||
| JEAN Aurore |  |
18th | 9th | 27th | ||||
| DOTSENKO Anastasia | |
15th | 19th | 16th | ||||
| ZELLER Katrin | |
24th | 19th | 7th | 47th | 19th | 19th | |
| SAARINEN Aino- Kaisa | |
32nd | 18th | 5th | 2nd | 14th | ||
| KALLA Charlotte |  |
11th | 13th | 16th | ||||
| VAN DER GRAAFF Laurien |  |
8th | 31st | |||||
| LAHTEENMAKI Krista | |
13th | 14th | |||||
| JACOBSEN Astrid Uhrenholdt | |
17th | 21st | 12th | 20th | |||
| WENG Heidi | |
12th | ||||||
| ROPONEN Riitta-Liisa | |
24th | 26th | 11th | 8th | 12th | ||
| NISKANEN Kerttu | |
15th | 33rd | |||||
| HAAG Anna | |
38th | 34th | 12th | 16th | |||
| FESSEL Nicole | |
26th | 27th | 14th | ||||
| BOEHLER Stefanie | |
32nd | 28th | 13th | 34th |
Men – historical results
| Name | 2012 Canmore 2012-12-15 SP F Final |
2012 Quebec 2012-12-08 SP F Final |
2012 Toblach 2012-01-04 SP F Final |
2011 Toblach 2011-01-05 SP F Final |
2010 Prag 2010-01-04 SP 1.2 km F Final |
2008 Prague 2008-12-29 SP 1.3 km F Final |
2007 Prague 2007-12-30 SP 1 km F Final |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JOENSSON Emil | |
1st | 1st | 8th | 1st | |||
| NORTHUG Petter jr. | |
2nd | 3rd | 45th | 7th | 5th | ||
| KERSHAW Devon |  |
50th | 34th | 13th | 1st | 21st | 26th | 27th |
| COLOGNA Dario | |
3rd | 2nd | 11th | 8th | 14th | ||
| NEWELL Andrew | |
5th | 5th | 8th | 6th | |||
| HELLNER Marcus | |
21st | 4th | 2nd | 21st | 22nd | ||
| HOFER David |  |
21st | 29th | 4th | 9th | 31st | 34th | |
| OESTENSEN Simen | |
5th | 3rd | 2nd | ||||
| HARVEY Alex | |
52nd | 21st | 6th | 14th | 19th | ||
| PELLEGRINO Federico | |
6th | 28th | 28th | ||||
| TRITSCHER Bernhard |  |
12th | 26th | 17th | 11th | |||
| CHEBOTKO Nikolay |  |
39th | 14th | 12th | 25th | 22nd | 26th | |
| VALJAS Len | |
7th | 46th | |||||
| DARRAGON Roddy | |
20th | 11th | 9th | 17th | |||
| JAKS Martin |  |
16th | 7th | 61st | 32nd | |||
| NOECKLER Dietmar | |
10th | ||||||
| CHERNOUSOV Ilia | |
11th | 30th | 56th | ||||
| PASINI Fabio | |
37th | 71st | 14th | 15th | 41st | ||
| SCOLA Fulvio | |
54th | 15th | 32nd | 22nd | |||
| DI CENTA Giorgio | |
18th | 23rd | 26th | 11th | 10th | ||
| PERL Curdin | |
26th | 12th | 31st | 47th | |||
| RICKARDSSON Daniel | |
41st | 10th | 55th | 44th | 60th | ||
| VYLEGZHANIN Maxim | |
37th | 7th | 30th | 6th | |||
| GAILLARD Jean Marc | |
60th | 30th | 16th | 3rd | 30th | ||
| GJERDALEN Tord Asle | |
15th | 39th | 12th | 9th | |||
| MIRANDA Cyril | |
43rd | 16th | 41st | 14th | |||
| RAZYM Ales | |
64th | 13th |
