Tour de Ski race day N°1: Klæbo takes the lead
Dec 28, 2021·Cross-Country
The prestigious COOP FIS Tour de Ski performance by Le Gruyère is set to celebrate the most diverse skier of the current time. Also in an Olympic year, the Tour does not take a break. With one month before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, the competition row sets the perfect stage for a final international comparison at altitude, and thus in conditions that the course set for the Olympic Games will be.
The first competition venue of Lenzerheide had a Sprint in Free technique on schedule. On the start list was the full set of elite Sprinters. All up front, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo who already recorded a Sprint victory when the Tour de Ski started off in Lenzerheide for the last time, back in 2019.
“Having the two competitions in Lenzerheide are very important for me and it is great to be skiing along with such strong competitors. Having the proof that your shape is in the place where you want to be a month before the Olympics is a good feeling too, but these days of competition is what I am focused on now,” said the 25 year-old after claiming the first victory of the Tour.
With Richard Jouve in the second place, the fight was tight. The French Sprinter is a regular on the World Cup podium this year as well but also holds the bittersweet record in the Men’s ranking for the most individual World Cup podiums – without ever winning. It was another close call today for Jouve but he head to give in. Already in the first semi-final, the contenders were all lined up with Klæbo, Chanavat, Pellegrino, Even Northug and Gleb Retivykh on the side of Jouve.
Thanks to the strong line up of semi-final 1 also the second French Sprint rocket, Lucas Chanavat advanced to the Finals, in the “Lucky Looser” position.
The 27 year-old caught the last spot on the podium by 0.23 seconds before Norwegian Erik Valnes and stated that he was indeed a little surprised about his great shape and that he hopes that this improves now step by step.
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