The Russian skier continued to fight in the stage race despite problems with his back, but he could not show the speed that would allow him to retain last year's title. Before climbing the Alpe de Cermis, he lost second place in the overall standings.
Poltoranin won the classic mass start "Tour de Ski", Larkov - the second
All in. There are no other options
Ustyugov, after bowling in Oberstdorf, was 53 seconds behind the leader of the Tour de Ski, Swiss Dario Colognier. And the only chance for him to at least partially win back this backlog was the classic mass start in Val di Fiemme. On a normal, not icy track, and without rain.
After all, the race was held with two intermediate finishes, where you could gain bonus seconds. It was due to these same bonuses that Cologna abruptly left Ustyugov in Oberstdorf. It was the only way to win back.
Two cut-offs - maximum bonuses
And Ustyugov rushed forward from the very start of the classic "tag". Together with Alexander Bolshunov, Andrey Larkov, Stanislav Volzhentsev, Alexei Chervotkin. And all the leaders of the Tour de Ski. Sergey set the race at a very high pace. And kept him exactly half the distance.
He was the first at the first intermediate cut-off, became the first and at the second, having made a lot of efforts. 30 bonus seconds is very cool. But Cologna was there all the time, receiving bonuses for third and fourth places. That is, at the cut-offs, Ustyugov played him only 13 seconds. But it was the acceleration at the second cut-off that took all of Sergey's strength.
Bonuses in plus, race in minus
He just got on the track. Of course, not literally. But Ustyugov tried to regain his strength and slightly slowed down, and the main group, led by Kolonya and Aleksey Poltoranin from Kazakhstan, went ahead. Suffice it to say that on the segment of 10-11.1 km Ustyugov lost 13 seconds to this group at once.
He did everything possible to keep up, but ... The race went into the red. Ustyugov finished only 14th, almost 43 seconds behind Poltoranin. Plus, the skier from Kazakhstan received 15 bonus seconds for the victory, and in total this is almost a minute. In general, Poltoranin will go seven seconds ahead of Ustyugov on the climb to Alpe de Cermis.
And very close - 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. Bowling instead of skis on the Tour de Ski
Rain, great speed, broken skis and poles, falls, failed fight– this is how the mass start took place in Oberstdorf.
Cologny's victory, Larkov's podium
Only missing the start of the final race can prevent Dario Cologna 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 great shape. Tomorrow the Swiss will equal Poland's Justina Kowalczyk in terms of the number of titles at the Tour de Ski.
Of ours, as already mentioned, Ustyugov and Bolshunov will compete for prizes. Andrei Larkov will not be able to intervene in this dispute, who had an excellent race before the finish of the stage race. In the classic mass start, he took second place. Larkov was the only one of ours who managed to catch on to the leaders, and in the final disassembly 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 escalated to the limit. Heidi Weng, who made a scandal after the finish of the skating mass start, managed to choose a minute behind Ingvild Ostberg. Both Norwegians will go uphill at the same time.
Russians Anastasia Sedova and Natalya Nepryaeva had a great race, finishing in seventh and eighth places. But they do not have any chances for prize-winning places according to the results of the “Tour”. Places in the top ten will be a good result.
Today, January 7, at 16:30 Moscow time, at the 7th stage of the 12th traditional ski multi-day Tour de Ski 2018 in Val di Fiemme, Italy, a 9 km freestyle pursuit race starts with a finish on 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 Nortug in 2010 missed out on the uphill lead. Both skiers finished second. We bring to your attention the 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 Nortug in 2010 missed out on the uphill lead. Both skiers finished 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. The backlog of Legkov was 6.5 seconds, Bauer - 8.3 seconds.
Only two of the last six uphill winners (in pure time) managed to eventually climb the stage 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 race.
Sundby (2) and Bauer (2) are the only ones to win the Tour de Ski pursuit more than once.
Only Sundby managed to win two pursuits in one Tour in 2015/16 (a second pursuit was added to the stage program in 2014/15). This year's 15 km pursuit at Stage III in Lenzerheide was won by Dario Cologna.
No athlete has won more World Cup stage pursuits than Maurice Manifica, who has 4 wins. Sundby and Bauer have won these races three times each.
Four of Manifika's nine World Cup victories come in pursuit.
Decisive race in performance Ustyugov the Tour de Ski was preceded by a women's final, as well as a service competition. In the first, ours, unfortunately, failed to stay in the first "six" and rolled back to the tenth position on the mountain. What does it matter to Chekaleva - best result in a career stage race and a very worthy performance.
The climb really turned out to be very difficult, - I noticed after the race Chekaleva. - The hardest thing was in the middle of the mountain, where the steepest places. It was a turning point when the girls rolled forward from me. On the sloping part, then I seemed to have increased strength. But even the “ten” is not bad, I have never climbed so high on the “Tour” before.
- Is it true that climbing the Alpe de Cermis is the most difficult race in the world calendar?
Of course, it's very hard. In the morning it was very scary even to think how we would climb here. But I reassured myself that it is equally difficult for everyone. Plus, the coaches suggested the distance: where to endure, where it is a little easier to pass in an alternating course.
The same coaches who suggested Chekaleva and her teammates, had experienced the thrills of climbing Alpe de Cermis first hand a few hours earlier. Mentors and representatives of service teams of all leading teams took part in the service race. High second place Egor Sorin- assistant in the group, that is, one of the mentors Ustyugov, and in the past - a member of the national team. Curiously, immediately after Sorin, a minute behind, finished Reto Burgermeister- another specialist directly related to the current success Ustyugov.
Until the autumn of this year, Sergei was preparing 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 has repeatedly said that Ustyugov is the most gifted athlete she has ever worked with. In these post-New Year days, all of Russia finally believed Isabelle's words.
THE LIFT IS WON BY THE ONLY HEALTHY ATHLETES
Ustyugov right after the New Year, they really managed to accomplish what seemed incredible. With his winning streak of five (!) races in a row, Sergei forced the country to distract not only from the festive table, but also from the protracted doping hysteria. "I am Russian, and I am "pure"!" - under this motto, Ustyugov went through the entire current multi-day race. The same with the final rise: Ustyugov stormed it not only for himself, but 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 - the figure is misleading. Given the unpredictable nature of the mountain, even a minute or more was not enough for Ustyugov to feel calm. But Sundby also required superhuman efforts combined with good 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. With the beginning of the steep part, the difference in technique that the skiers decided to use became apparent. Powerful Ustyugov went uphill with 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. Such a style, taking into account the huge degree of rise, requires incredible physical effort. But the Norwegian had no other choice but to go for broke.
It soon became clear that the chances of winning Sundby No. On the steepest sections, the separation from Ustyugov decreased, but even about 50 seconds would be more than enough for the Russian to win. Sergey stamped his gigantic steps uphill without looking back and as if not even seeing anyone around. In this race, he did not look like a hare, which the whole peloton was catching up with, but a real king, master of the situation.
At the finish line, separation from Sundby exceeded a minute again, but it didn't matter anymore. Ustyugov did not pick up the flag or even throw up his hands. Just fell into the snow as soon as I crossed the finish line. He didn't have the strength for anything else.
The absolute winner of five races out of seven on the stage race, the second in the history of the country (the first was in 2013) winner of the Tour de Ski overall standings ... Among other things, Ustyugov took a huge step towards becoming the first in the overall standings of the Cup world at the end of the year. And none of us have been able to do this for many years.
"It's great that the climb up the Alpe de Cermis again was won by the only healthy athlete. At least among men," the two-time tweeted. Olympic champion from Poland . Remember, the slogan of the Olympics in Sochi was the phrase "Hot. Winter. Yours", and our creative people as soon as they did not remake this trinity? So, "Russian, pure, first" - it seems new motto of our sport by a skier Ustyugov.
VAL DI FIEMME (Italy). Tour de Ski. Mmen.
Final, 9 km (C). 1. Ustyugov - 30.27.7. 2. Sundby (Norway) - backlog 1.02.9. 3. Gift. Cologna (Switzerland) - 1.19.1. 4. Manifika (France) - 1.26.9. 5. Heikkinen (Finland) - 1:31.3. 6. Hellner (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 - backlog 1.02.9. 3. Columns - 1.19.1. 4. Manifika - 1.26.9. 5. Heikkinen - 1.31.3. 6. Hellner - 2.05.8. 7. Harvey (Canada) - 2:39.7. 8. Kruger (Norway) - 3.27.2. 9. Holund (Norway) - 3.50.4. 10. Durhaug (Norway) - 4.24.9...
Why the Tour de Ski main tournament winter season
8 races in 10 days, a chance for Legkov to win, climbing on skis and the most generous prize money - a site about what the Tour de Ski is and why it is worth seeing
Tour de France for skiers
The multi-day ski tour "Tour de ski" does not stretch for three weeks, like cyclists, but 8 starts in 10 days, and in the mountains - this is also an overload. And if you count on a high final place, none of them can fail. In the overall standings, the time spent on each distance is added up: a big loss in just one race can make even victories by a tiny margin in the previous ones meaningless. In such energy-intensive circumstances, it is especially important to be able to properly use rest time. So, two-time Olympic champion-2010 Peter Nortug rides 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 the "mobile home" is not the most convenient option for the "Tour de ski". It is difficult to navigate serpentine roads on bulky vehicles, it is much faster to get to the hotel in a regular car and relax there.
This time, the participants of the Tour will have three transfers: from Lenzerheide, Switzerland, to Oberstdorf, Germany, from there to Toblach, Italy, and then another 124 km to Val di Fiemme, where the stage race traditionally finishes.
Due to the lack of snow in Oberstdorf, Germany, the schedule for the second stage had to be shaken up a bit - moved a day earlier sprint racing, and the skiathlon (a race in two styles, with a change of skis - Matchtv.ru) was replaced with shorter mass starts. The final program looks like this: 2 sprints (free style 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 passed all previous races will be allowed to the final distance.
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 a change in the training group. The current Alexander started without brilliance, but confidently and smoothly - he is 10th in the overall standings of the World Cup. Even the leader of the season, Norwegian Martin Sundby, in one of his interviews, noted that Legkov had finally finished celebrating his victory in Sochi and got in 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 prevented by either a 15-second penalty for an incorrect rebuilding in the penultimate race, or an accidental violation of the route during the final climb to Mount Alpe Cermis. Fortunately, the fans returned Legkov to the the right way. And besides, this year's Tour de Ski - main start season for skiers. Neither the Olympics nor the World Cup, for which you can score on everything else, is not on the schedule.
Good Format ski competitions for TV and sponsors
The idea of "Tour de ski" arose 10 years ago from a comic dispute, which of the skiers is stronger - sprinters or distance skiers. So they came up with a tournament that should determine the most versatile skier. But more importantly, at the beginning of the 2000s, skiing needed a new, more attractive competition format for spectators and sponsors in order to get the attention of biathlon-addicted television. The experiment turned out to be successful. Every year, about 20 thousand fans come to each stage of the Tour, and in 2015 the TV audience of the multi-day event amounted to 70 million people. The sponsors also liked the new product. Audi, Helvetia, Le Gruyere and Polar joined the first Tour de Ski partners Viessmann and Craft Sportswear.
The highest prize money in winter activities sports
Excluding hockey, of course. The commercial success of the Tour de Ski allows the organizers to charge high prize money. They don’t pay too much for a won race - 2700 euros (for comparison, in biathlon - 13 thousand), but for a victory in the overall standings you can get 93 thousand (in biathlon - 28, in the Four Hills Tour - 20). In addition, the Tour de Ski, like the cyclists on the Tour de France, has a separate sprint classification, the winner of which will become richer by 5,500 euros.
Ski climbing
Business card "Tour de Ski" - 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 distance of 9 km is the ascent to Alpe Cermis mountain. The steepness of the slope climbed by skiers reaches up to 29% in some areas. The difference in altitude 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 stretch. On the last two kilometers, when the slope reaches 29%, even very strong skiers practically go on foot, there is no strength left to hire. So, it is the ascent to the Alpe Chermis that prevents the great Nortug from fulfilling his dream and becoming the winner of the Tour. He went "from and to" all 9 tournaments, won the most races (13), was on the final podium six times, but cannot become a champion in any way. On the eve of the 2016 Tour, he joked that he would be the favorite if on the last day you had to go down the Alpe Cermis instead of climbing it. Northug believes that 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 the interviews, Peter pointed to genetics: no matter how many crackers and bananas he ate, he would not be able to lose weight. Northug's only chance is to create the biggest possible handicap for himself before the final race. To not be caught up.
Opportunity to beat the Norwegians in cross-country skiing
Norwegian 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 teams from Norway. There are 4 Norwegians in the top five of the overall women's World Cup standings. This is a summary of Norwegian hegemony in the 2015/16 season. The main favorites of the current "Tour" at the bookmakers are also from Norway. Therese Johaug and Martin Sundby. However, the multi-day race has become “Norwegian” only in the last two years: two victories for Sundby among men and one each for Johaug and Marit Bjorgen for women. Before that, the men won the Swiss Cologna (three times), the Czech Bauer (twice), the German Angerer and the Russian Legkov; in women, Swedish skier Kalla, Virpi Kuitunen from Finland (twice) and Justina Kowalczyk from Poland (4 wins) became champions.
Live broadcasts of the Tour de Ski on Match TV:
17.50 - men's and women's sprint, free style
14.55 - mass start, women, 15 km, classic style
16.55 - mass start, men, 30 km, classic style
13.40 - pursuit race, men, 5 km, free style
15.30 - women's 5 km pursuit, freestyle
16.00 - mass start, women, 10 km, classic style
15.00 - women's time trial, 5 km, free style
17.40 - pursuit race, men, 9 km, free style
Text: Igor Osipov
Photo: globallookpress.com
A smart man will not go uphill - he will run. For Sergei Ustyugov, being the first on the Alpe de Cermis meant not only winning the prestigious Tour de Ski, and not only getting more than 100,000 Swiss francs in prize money, but also proving to everyone that Russians can win without doping. He has proven.
The January Ustyugov surprised and even stunned not only those who follow the cross-country skiing with half an eye. Rivals, experts, domestic specialists were surprised - everyone who was well aware of the capabilities of a talented Siberian, but who did not reveal all his capabilities for a long time. Yes, there were victories at the junior and youth world championships, there was fifth place at the Olympics in Sochi, there was bronze medal in the relay at the adult World Championships, and third overall at the Tour de Ski last year. But now he has done what even superstars like Petter Northug, Dario Cologna and Martin Sundby could not do.
24-year-old native of Mezhdurechensky (this is the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
won five stages of the Tour de Ski in a row, starting from the first. It doesn't happen, it can't be like that under any circumstances
— different distances, different styles and venues. For 11 years of presence in the sports world of the pearl of the ski season, there were a few all-rounders capable of equally withstanding sprint specialists, distance racers and masters of the "classics".
This is the Tour de Ski - a super marathon of eight (this season - of seven) races, following each other, like in cycling. With all their exclusivity, you can compare a ski tour with multi-day bike rides, 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 going through the Tour from start to finish is already evidence of belonging to the elite.
Ustyugov potentially belonged to the elite not for the first year, but for quite a long time remained in the shadow of both the strong Russian sprint cohort and the powerful distance athletes led by Alexander Legkov. The first coach of Sergei Ustyugov, Ivan Bragin, says that until the age of 15, his pupil generally chose between skiing and biathlon, and he achieved his first successes precisely as a sprinter. IN Olympic Sochi Ustyugov was the shadow favorite of the sprint, and only an offensive fall in the finals deprived him of an Olympic award. And last season, he was already considered one of the most promising all-rounders, which was proved by the “bronze” at the Tour de Ski.
Today, the prelaunch scenario has been sharply corrected by the consequences of the second part of the Richard McLaren Commission report.
Just before the start of the Tour de Ski International Federation skiing suspended the leaders of the Russian national team from the competition for an indefinite period - Olympic champion and the winner of the Tour de Ski 2013 Alexander Legkov, as well as Maxim Vylegzhanin and Evgeny Belov. In addition to Ustyugov, there was no one to compete with the favorites, and even before the start he announced that he would try to win.
The piquancy of the situation was added by the fact that Sergey Ustyugov joined the group of the German specialist Markus Kramer only this autumn. Kramer unofficially supervised the preparation of Alexander Legkov for several years, with whose light hand the German has now officially started working with the Russian team. But even a magician could not provide for two or three months not just a breakthrough, but downright rebirth of even a talented racer. Apparently, Ustyugov's hour has come as a result of many years of hard work, and Markus Kramer managed to give it a cut and shine.
It all started with the New Year's victory sprint in the Swiss Val Mustair. In the same place, Ustyugov won the 10-kilometer mass start with the classics, and there he grabbed it with a stranglehold two-time winner"Tour de Ski" Martin Jonsgrud Sundby, who happily avoided a lengthy suspension for an anti-doping rule violation. In the German Oberstdorf, in the next two races, the fate of the current stage race was essentially decided, and it was Sundby who twice tried to remove Ustyugov from the leadership position.
Even Markus Kramer was sure that the Norwegian would succeed at some point. In the skiathlon at a 20-kilometer distance, Sundby lost 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 the whole sports world, winning the 10K individual freestyle and set a Tour de Ski record for the fifth consecutive victory that won't be beaten any time soon. The advantage over the second prize-winner, the Frenchman Maurice Monifica, was only 0.4 seconds. Lucky is the one who is lucky, and Ustyugov was the one who drove and led this, perhaps the most difficult race for him. However, there are no easy stages on the Tour de Ski.
Ustyugov gave only one stage, the penultimate one - in the Italian Val di Fiemme. But what does "give" mean? He finished second behind Martin Sundby, losing nothing to him and falling down exhausted after finishing. Two Russians, Andrey Larkov and Alexander Bessmertnykh, helped the leader to leave the advantage critical for the pursuers, who did not allow any Martin Sundby, nor three-time Tour de Ski winner Dario Colognier.
Both Sundby and Kolonia are "mountain kings" if that title applies to skiing. Although it is quite suitable for the three-kilometer climb to Alp de Cermis, and the red-bearded Norwegian could probably win back 72 seconds from the former Ustyugov. But this time, if Sundby had any hopes, it was only before the start of a decisive rise: the leader, albeit on autopilot, still left for an absolute victory. Later, Ustyugov will say that his condition at that moment was such that words cannot convey. Sundby did not even play ten seconds.
It was, if not great, then very big win. It is even difficult to compare 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, it means that you were “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 middle of all this doping and anti-doping turbidity ...
As for whether Ustyugov rushed too early, and the World Cup in Lahti is still far away, he rushed when he needed to. And let's not predict anything for the future. Not that moment.
