Klæbo remains unstoppable at 15km C Mass Start

For the Men's fifth stage at this seasons COOP FIS Tour de Ski presented by Le Gruyère, a 15km Mass Start in Classic technique was on schedule. The current Tour leader Johannes Høsflot Klæbo remained untouchable and went for a consecutive win in a Mass start race.

Early in the race, before entering back the stadium for the first time, the chasing group was shaken up after Francesco De Fabiani had a collision with Even Northug and took further athletes down.

Up front, Iivo Niskanen from Finland set the pace and was being closely chased by five Norwegians. However, after the Bonus Second intermediate in the fourth lap, the 29 year-old Classic expert increased the pace and the following athletes were set back further. For the final 5km, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo took over the leading position and had Niskanen on his heels. A few seconds back, Alexander Bolshunov was on the chase.

But the current runner-up in the Overall Tour standing struggled with his skis and was surely overtaken by the group. In addition, the gap to the leaders grew.

In the final lap, Klæbo took off to grow the time difference that adds up to the Overall time of the Tour, that will be caught up in the final stage of the Tour de Ski, at the prestigious Final Climb to Alpe Cermis.

With a margin of 20 seconds, Klæbo crossed the finish line. Second in line is Iivo Niskanen and third, Alexey Chervotkin who crossed the finish 0.3 seconds before his team colleague Denis Spitsov - completes the podium.

For the Final Climb, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo goes into the race with a 2 minute margin before Alexander Bolshunov.

Current Tour de Ski Standing:

1. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
2. Alexander Bolshunov +2:00
3. Iivo Niskanen +2:49
4. Erik Valnes +3:04
5. Paal Golberg +3:09

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