The Russian skier continued to fight in the stage race despite problems with his back, but was unable to show the speed that would allow him to retain last year’s title. Before the climb to the Alpe de Cermis, he lost second place in the overall standings.
Poltoranin won the classic mass start Tour de Ski, Larkov was second
All-in. There are no other options
After bowling in Oberstdorf, Ustyugov was 53 seconds behind the Tour de Ski leader, Swiss Dario Cologne. And the only chance for him to at least partially make up this gap was the classic mass start in Val di Fiemme. On a normal, not icy, road, and without rain.
After all, the race took place with two intermediate finishes, where it was possible to gain bonus seconds. It was due to these same bonuses that Cologna abruptly left Ustyugov in Oberstdorf. It was only possible to win back in the same way.
Two cutoffs – maximum bonuses
And Ustyugov rushed forward from the very start of the classic “tag”. Together with Alexander Bolshunov, Andrey Larkov, Stanislav Volzhentsev, Alexey Chervotkin. And all the leaders of the Tour de Ski. Sergei set the race a very high pace. And he kept it exactly half the distance.
He was first at the first intermediate cutoff, and became first at the second, putting in a lot of effort. 30 bonus seconds is very cool. But Cologna was there all the time, receiving bonuses for third and fourth places. That is, during the cutoffs, Ustyugov played only 13 seconds behind him. But it was the acceleration at the second cutoff that took all the strength from Sergei.
Bonuses are a plus, the race is a minus
He just stood on the ski track. Of course, not in the literal sense. But Ustyugov tried to regain his strength and slightly reduced the speed, and the main group, led by Cologna and Alexey Poltoranin from Kazakhstan, went ahead. Suffice it to say that in the 10-11.1 km segment, Ustyugov lost 13 seconds to this group.
He did everything possible to not fall far behind, but... The race went into the red. Ustyugov finished only 14th, losing almost 43 seconds to Poltoranin. Plus, the skier from Kazakhstan received 15 bonus seconds for winning, which in total is almost a minute. In general, Poltoranin will climb the Alpe de Cermis mountain seven seconds ahead of Ustyugov.
And very close are Alex Harvey, Alexander Bolshunov and Martin Jonsrud Sundby. The fight for prizes will be very tough. And the winner is already known.
Ustyugov is furious. The Tour de Ski featured bowling instead of skiing.
Rain, huge speed, broken skis and poles, falls, failed fight- this is how the mass start went in Oberstdorf.
Victory for Cologny, podium for Larkov
Only failure to start the final race can prevent Dario Cologne from winning the Tour de Ski for the fourth time in his career. He starts 1.15 ahead of everyone, and this advantage is enough. Especially for a skier who is in excellent shape. Tomorrow the Swiss will equal Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk in the number of Tour de Ski titles.
Of ours, as has already been said, Ustyugov and Bolshunov will compete for prizes. Andrey Larkov, who ran an excellent race before the finish of the stage race, will not be able to intervene in this dispute. He took second place in the classic mass start. Larkov was the only one of ours who managed to cling to the leaders, and in the final showdown he lost only 0.4 seconds to Poltoranin.
For Larkov, this podium was the first in his career at the World Cup.
Norwegian zaruba
But among women the struggle has intensified to the limit. Heidi Weng, who caused a scandal after the finish of the speed skating mass start, managed to find herself a minute behind Ingvild Ostberg. Both Norwegians will go up the mountain at the same time.
Russians Anastasia Sedova and Natalya Nepryaeva had an excellent race, finishing in seventh and eighth places. But they have no chance of winning prizes at the end of the Tour. Places in the top ten will be a good result.
Today, January 7, at 16:30 Moscow time, at the VII stage of the 12th traditional stage ski race Tour de Ski 2018 in the Italian Val di Fiemme, the 9 km freestyle pursuit race starts with the finish at the top of the legendary mountain Alpe di Cermis. Nine of the 11 leaders after the penultimate race managed to win the Tour de Ski. Only Dario Cologna in 2013 and Petter Northug in 2010 missed out on the lead on the uphill climb. Both skiers ended up second. We bring to your attention statistical facts about final stage Tura. MEN 9 km FREE STYLE PURSUIT
Nine of the 11 leaders after the penultimate race managed to win the Tour de Ski. Only Dario Cologna in 2013 and Petter Northug in 2010 missed out on the lead on the uphill climb. Both skiers ended up second.
All previous 11 Tour de Ski winners were in the top 2 overall standings before the last race. Alexander Legkov in 2013 and Lukasz Bauer in 2010 started second. Legkov's gap was 6.5 seconds, Bauer's - 8.3 seconds.
Only two of the last six uphill race winners (in pure time) managed to end up on the stage race podium: Martin Jonsrud Sundby in 2015/16 (first) and Chris Jespersen in 2013/14 (second).
Bauer in 2010 and Tobias Angerer in 2007 also showed best time and won the stage race.
Sundby (2) and Bauer (2) are the only people to have won the Tour de Ski pursuit more than once.
Only Sundby managed to win two pursuit races in one Tour in 2015/16 (a second pursuit was added to the stage program in 2014/15). This year, the 15-kilometer pursuit race at stage III in Lenzerheide was won by Dario Cologna.
No athlete has won more World Cup stage race pursuits than Maurice Manifika, who has 4 victories. Sundby and Bauer won such races three times each.
Four of Manifik's nine World Cup victories came in the pursuit.
Decisive race performed Ustyugova The Tour de Ski was preceded by a women's final, as well as a service competition. In the first, our team, unfortunately, failed to stay in the top six and fell back to tenth position. What does it matter to Chekaleva - best result in his career at a stage race and a very worthy performance.
The climb really turned out to be very difficult, she noted after the race Chekaleva. - It became the hardest in the middle of the mountain, where the steepest places are. It was a turning point when the girls rolled forward from me. On the flat part, I then seemed to have more strength. But even “ten” is not bad, I’ve never climbed so high on the Tour before.
- Is it true that the climb to Alpe de Cermis is the most difficult race on the world calendar?
Of course, it's very difficult. In the morning it was very scary to even think about how we would get up here. But I reassured myself that it was equally difficult for everyone. Plus, the coaches suggested the distance: where to be patient, where it would be a little easier to walk alternately.
The same coaches who advised Chekaleva and her teammates, a few hours earlier experienced all the delights of climbing Alpe de Cermis firsthand. Mentors and representatives of service teams from all leading teams took part in the service race. Won a high second place Egor Sorin- assistant in the group, that is, one of the mentors Ustyugova, and in the past - a member of the national team. It’s interesting that immediately after Sorin, a minute behind, finished Reto Burgermeister- another specialist directly related to current successes Ustyugova.
Until the fall of this year, Sergei trained in the group of Burgermeister and his assistant Isabelle Knaute. And also, under the leadership of this tandem, a year ago he won third place in the Tour de Ski. Knaute I have said more than once that Ustyugov- the most gifted athlete she has ever worked with. In these post-New Year days, the whole of Russia finally believed Isabel’s words.
THE LIFT WON THE ONLY HEALTHY ATHLETE
Ustyugov Immediately after the New Year, we actually managed to accomplish what seemed incredible. Your winning streak out of five (!) races in a row, Sergei forced the country to take a break not only from the festive table, but also from the protracted doping hysteria. “I am Russian, and I am “pure”!” - Ustyugov went through the entire current multi-day race under this motto. Same with the final climb: Ustyugov stormed it not only for himself, but also for all honest Russian skiers. In the case of Sergei, this is not pathos, but reality.
1 minute 12 seconds of advantage over the second Norwegian who started is a deceptive figure. Given the unpredictable nature of the mountain, even more than a minute was not enough for Ustyugov to feel calm. But Sundby also required superhuman efforts combined with luck to win.
Ustyugov carried out the final climb perfectly competently. On the starting six-kilometer flat part I walked calmly, without straining. Sundby, however, followed the same tactics and did not particularly try to get closer. As the steep part began, the difference in the technique the skiers decided to use became apparent. Powerful Ustyugov I walked up the climb at a more economical alternating step, while trying to move at a high pace. Sundby was one of the few who, even uphill, did not give up pushing with sticks under each leg. This style, taking into account the enormous degree of elevation, requires incredible physical effort. But the Norwegian had no other choice but to go all-in.
It soon became clear that the chances of winning were Sundby No. On the steepest sections the separation from Ustyugova shortened, but even about 50 seconds would have been more than enough for the Russian to win. Sergei stamped his giant steps up the mountain, without looking back and as if not even seeing anyone around. In this race he looked not like a hare that the entire peloton was catching up with, but a real king, the master of the situation.
At the finish line the gap from Sundby again exceeded a minute, but it didn’t matter anymore. Ustyugov did not take the flag or even raise his hands. I just fell into the snow as soon as I crossed the finish line. He no longer had the strength to do anything else.
The absolute winner of five out of seven stage races, the second in the history of the country (the first was in 2013) winner of the overall Tour de Ski... Among other things, Ustyugov took a huge step towards becoming first in the overall standings of the Cup world at the end of the year. And none of our people have been able to do this for many years.
"It's great that the Alpe de Cermis climb was once again won by the only able-bodied athlete. At least among the men," the two-time champion tweeted. Olympic champion from Poland. Remember, the slogan of the Olympics in Sochi was the phrase “Hot. Winter. Yours,” and our creative people never remade this trinity? So, “Russian, pure, first” - it seems new motto our sport by a skier Ustyugova.
VAL DI FIEMME (Italy). Tour de Ski. Mmen.
Final, 9 km (N). 1. USTYUGOV - 30.27.7. 2. Sundby (Norway) - gap 1.02.9. 3. Gift. Colonia (Switzerland) - 1.19.1. 4. Manifika (France) - 1.26.9. 5. Heikkinen (Finland) - 1.31.3. 6. Helner (Sweden) - 2.05.8... 13. IMMORTAL - 5.14.1... 22. LARKOV - 8.02.3... 27. MELNICHENKO - 10.01.1... 29. SEDOV - 10.14.8... 36. VOKUEV - 12.18 ,0.
TOTAL SCORE. 1. USTYUGOV - 3:24.47.9. 2. Sundby - gap 1.02.9. 3. Colonia - 1.19.1. 4. Manifika - 1.26.9. 5. Heikkinen - 1.31.3. 6. Helner - 2.05.8. 7. Harvey (Canada) - 2.39.7. 8. Kruger (Norway) - 3.27.2. 9. Holund (Norway) - 3.50.4. 10. Dyrhaug (Norway) - 4.24.9...
Why Tour de Ski? main tournament winter season
8 races in 10 days, a chance for Legkov to win, ski climbing and the most generous prize money - a site about what the Tour de Ski is and why it’s worth seeing
Tour de France for skiers
The multi-day ski race “Tour de ski” does not last for three weeks, like for cyclists, but 8 starts in 10 days, and in the mountains, is also an extra load. And if you count on a high final place, you can’t fail any of them. In the overall standings, the time spent on each distance is added up: a large loss in just one race can make even victories with a tiny margin in previous ones meaningless. In such energy-intensive circumstances, it is especially important to be able to properly use rest time. Thus, two-time Olympic champion 2010 Peter Northug travels on the Tour de Ski in a specially equipped double-decker bus. It has everything you need to relax after the race and while moving from stage to stage - from a comfortable bed to a Playstation. But Alexander Legkov believes that a “home on wheels” is not the most convenient option for a Tour de Ski. It is difficult to navigate along serpentine roads with bulky vehicles; it is much faster to get to the hotel in a regular car and relax there.
This time, the Tour participants will have to travel three times: from Lenzerheide in Switzerland to Oberstdorf in Germany, from there to Toblach in Italy, and then another 124 km to Val di Fiemme, where the stage race traditionally finishes.
Due to a lack of snow in Oberstdorf, Germany, the schedule for the second stage had to be slightly shaken up - it was moved a day earlier sprint racing, and skiathlon (a race in two styles, with a change of skis - Мatchtv.ru) was replaced with shorter mass starts. The final program looks like this: 2 sprints (free and classic style), 3 mass starts (classic, 10/15 km - women/men), 2 pursuit races (free style, 5 and 9 km) and a time trial race (free style, 5/10 km). Only those who have completed all previous races will be allowed to compete in the final race.
A real chance to win for AlexanderPassenger car
Since his heroic victory in the marathon at the Sochi Olympics, Alexander Legkov has not won anything. Last season was lost due to illness and changes in the training group. The current Alexander started off without sparkle, but confidently and smoothly - he is 10th in the overall World Cup standings. Even the leader of the season, Norwegian Martin Sundby, noted in one of his interviews that Legkov had finally finished celebrating his Sochi victory and had gotten into shape. At the start of the Tour de Ski 2016, Alexander Legkov is one of the main favorites. He is the best "miner" in the world. He won the Tour in 2013 - then he was not hindered by a 15-second penalty for an incorrect lane change in the penultimate race, nor by an accidental violation of the route during the final climb of the Alpe Cermis mountain. Fortunately, the fans returned Legkov to the the right way. And besides, this year's Tour de Ski - main start season for skiers. There are neither the Olympics nor the World Championships, for which you can forget about everything else, on the schedule.
Successful format ski competitions for TV and sponsors
The idea of “Tour de ski” arose 10 years ago from a comic dispute about which skiers were stronger – sprinters or distance skiers. This is how they came up with a tournament that should determine the most versatile skier. But what is much more important is that at the beginning of the 2000s, skiing needed a new, more attractive competition format for spectators and sponsors in order to gain the attention of television, which was passionate about biathlon. The experiment turned out to be successful. Every year, about 20 thousand fans come to each stage of the Tour, and in 2015 the television audience of the stage race was 70 million people. Sponsors also liked the new product. The first Tour de Ski partners Viessmann and Craft Sportswear are joined by Audi, Helvetia, Le Gruyere and Polar.
Highest prize money in winter species sports
Minus hockey, of course. The commercial success of the Tour de Ski allows the organizers to award high prize money. They don’t pay too much for winning a race - 2,700 euros (for comparison, in biathlon - 13 thousand), but for winning the overall standings you can get 93 thousand (in biathlon - 28, in the Four Hills Tour - 20). In addition, the Tour de Ski, like cyclists at the Tour de France, has a separate sprint competition, the winner of which will be richer by 5,500 euros.
Skiing
The signature race of the Tour de Ski is the final race in Val di Fiemme. Skiers start according to the time shown in previous races, that is, they catch up with the leader - and whoever is first at the finish line wins the Tour. The main attraction of the 9 km distance is the climb to the Alpe Cermis mountain. The steepness of the slope that skiers climb reaches up to 29% in some areas. The elevation difference from start to finish is 400 meters (890–1290 m above sea level), and the athletes’ heart rate jumps from 137 beats per minute in the first half of the race to 180–190 beats in the final 500-meter segment. In the last two kilometers, when the slope reaches 29%, even very strong skiers practically walk, there is no strength left for skiing. Thus, it is the climb to the Alpe Cermis that prevents the great Northug from realizing his dream of becoming the winner of the Tour. He went through all 9 tournaments inside and out, won the most races (13), was on the final podium six times, but he just can’t become a champion. On the eve of the 2016 Tour, he joked that he would be the favorite if the final day involved descending the Alpe Cermis rather than climbing it. Northug believes the problem is his weight. 83 kg is too much for such a steep mountain. But the Norwegian can't do anything about it. In one of his interviews, Peter nodded to genetics: no matter how many crackers and bananas he eats, he will not be able to lose weight. Northug's only chance is to handicap himself as big as possible before the final race. So that they don't catch up.
Opportunity to beat the Norwegians in cross-country skiing
Norway's Martin Sundby has won every World Cup distance race this season. In the relay, at one of the first stages, the first three places were taken by three Norwegian teams. There are 4 Norwegians in the top five of the overall women's World Cup standings. This is a summary of the Norwegian hegemony in the 2015/16 season. The bookmakers' main favorites for the current Tour are also from Norway. Therese Johaug and Martin Sundby. However, the stage race became “Norwegian” only in the last two years: two victories for Sundby among men and one each for Johaug and Marit Bjorgen among women. Previously, the Swiss Cologna (three times), the Czech Bauer (twice), the German Angerer and the Russian Legkov won the men's competition; Among women, the Swedish skier Kalla, Virpi Kuitunen from Finland (twice) and Justyna Kowalczyk from Poland (4 victories) became champions.
Live broadcasts of the Tour de Ski on Match TV:
17.50 – men's and women's sprint, freestyle
14.55 – mass start, women, 15 km, classic style
16.55 – mass start, men’s 30 km, classic style
13.40 – pursuit race, men’s 5 km, free style
15.30 – pursuit race, women’s 5 km, free style
16.00 – mass start, women, 10 km, classic style
15.00 – time trial, women’s 5 km, freestyle
17.40 – pursuit race, men, 9 km, freestyle
Text: Igor Osipov
Photo: globallookpress.com
A smart person will not go uphill - he will run. For Sergei Ustyugov, being the first at the top of the Alpe de Cermis meant not only winning the most prestigious stage race, the Tour de Ski, and not only receiving more than 100 thousand in Swiss francs, but also proving to everyone that Russians can win without doping. He proved it.
January Ustyugov surprised and even stunned not only those who follow ski racing with half an eye. Rivals, experts, domestic specialists were surprised - everyone who was well aware of the capabilities of the talented Siberian, but for a long time did not reveal all his capabilities. Yes, there were victories at junior and youth world championships, there was fifth place at the Olympics in Sochi, there was bronze medal in the relay at the senior world championships, and third place in the overall standings at the Tour de Ski last year. But now he has done something that even the superstars of Petter Northug, Dario Cologna and Martin Sundby could not do.
24-year-old native of Mezhdurechensky (this is the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug)
won five stages of the Tour de Ski in a row, starting with the first. This does not happen, this cannot happen under any circumstances
- different distances, different styles and venues. Over the 11 years of presence in the sports world of the pearl of the ski season, there have been a few all-rounders who can equally withstand sprint specialists, distance athletes and masters of the “classics”.
This is the Tour de Ski - a super marathon of eight (this season - seven) races following each other, like in cycling. With all their exclusivity, a ski tour can be compared with multi-day cycling trips, but the Tour de Ski is no easier. It requires a combination of a variety of qualities and skills, horse endurance, and the ability to recover in the shortest possible time. Nothing can make up for a failure at one distance, you won’t be able to sit out, just completing the Tour from start to finish is already evidence of belonging to the elite.
Ustyugov potentially belonged to the elite for many years, but for quite a long time he remained in the shadow of both the strong Russian sprint cohort and the powerful distance athletes led by Alexander Legkov. Sergei Ustyugov’s first coach, Ivan Bragin, says that until the age of 15, his student generally chose between skiing and biathlon, and achieved his first successes as a sprinter. IN Olympic Sochi Ustyugov was the shadow favorite in the sprint, and only an offensive fall in the final deprived him of the Olympic medal. And last season he was already considered one of the most promising all-rounders, which was proven by his bronze medal at the Tour de Ski.
Nowadays, the pre-launch situation has been sharply adjusted by the consequences of the second part of the Richard McLaren commission report.
Immediately before the start of the Tour de Ski, the International Federation skiing suspended the leaders of the Russian national team from competitions for an indefinite period - Olympic champion and the 2013 Tour de Ski winner Alexander Legkov, as well as Maxim Vylegzhanin and Evgeniy Belov. Apart from Ustyugov, there was no one to compete with the favorites, and even on the eve of the start he declared that he would try to win.
What added piquancy to the situation was that Sergei Ustyugov joined the group of German specialist Markus Kramer only this fall. Kramer unofficially supervised the preparation of Alexander Legkov for several years, with whose light hand the German now officially began working with the Russian national team. But even a wizard could not provide not just a breakthrough, but downright rebirth of even a talented racer in two or three months. Apparently, Ustyugov’s hour has come as a result of many years of hard work, and Markus Kramer managed to give it polish and shine.
It all started with a pre-New Year's victorious sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland. There, Ustyugov won the 10-kilometer classic mass start, and there he had a death grip on him two-time winner“Tour de Ski” Martin Jonsgrud Sundby, who happily avoided a long disqualification for violating anti-doping rules. In Oberstdorf, Germany, in the next two races the fate of the current stage race was essentially decided, and it was Sundby who twice tried to displace Ustyugov from the leadership position.
Even Markus Kramer was confident that the Norwegian would succeed at some point. In the 20-kilometer skiathlon, Sundby lost by only 0.6 seconds; in the pursuit race, the Russian until the last felt the breath of his main rival behind his back, but in the end he “brought” him more than half a minute. And already in the Italian Tolbakh Sergei Ustyugov completely made everyone gasp sports world, winning the 10 km freestyle individual race, and with his fifth consecutive victory, setting a Tour de Ski record that will not soon be broken. The advantage over the second prize-winner, Frenchman Maurice Monifika, was only 0.4 seconds. Lucky is the one who is lucky, and Ustyugov carried and led this, perhaps the most difficult race for him. However, there are no easy stages at the Tour de Ski.
Ustyugov gave only one stage, the penultimate one - in the Italian Val di Fiemme. But what does “gave” mean? He finished second behind Martin Sundby, losing nothing to him and falling exhausted after the finish. Two Russians, Andrei Larkov and Alexander Bessmertnykh, helped the leader to leave the advantage critical for his pursuers, who did not allow either of them to run away. Martin Sundby, nor three-time Tour de Ski winner Dario Cologne.
Both Sundby and Cologna are “kings of the mountain,” if that title applies to skiing. Although he is quite suitable for the three-kilometer climb to Alpe de Cermis, and the red-bearded Norwegian could probably win back 72 seconds from the former Ustyugov. But this time, if Sundby had any hope, it was only until the start of the decisive climb: the leader, albeit on autopilot, still went to absolute victory. Later, Ustyugov would say that his condition at that moment was such that words could not express it. Sundby didn't even play ten seconds.
It was, if not great, then very big victory. It’s even difficult to compare it with anything. It will undoubtedly raise questions and even doubts, which the future winner also spoke about during the race: “Everyone thinks that if you are Russian and skate well, then that means you have been “pumped up” with something.” This is wrong!".
The head of the International Ski Federation, Gianfranco Kasper, said that his organization has no claims against Sergei Ustyugov. And thanks for that. There must be at least some islands of calm in the midst of all this doping and anti-doping murkiness...
As for whether Ustyugov rushed too early, and the World Championships in Lahti are still far away, he rushed when necessary. And we won’t make any plans for the future. Not that moment.
