The final victory will not escape Johannes Hösflot Klaebo in the Tour de Ski. The Norwegian won the penultimate stage, a skiathlon, in Val di Fiemme to increase his lead to more than two minutes overall.
Klaebo mastered his subject throughout the 20 km of the course (10 in classic, 10 in skating). He made a decisive attack on the final climb to beat his Italian runner-up Federico Pellegrino by 2”4.
Seventh at 7”1, his compatriot Erik Valnes is now 2nd overall at 2’18, with Haavard Moseby (3rd) and Mika Vermeulent (4th) both 2’29 behind. On the Swiss side, Beda Klee finished 29th in this skiathlon, 1’53”5 behind the winner of the day.
Johaug takes control, the Swiss behind
Among the women, victory went to the returning Therese Johaug, who had not yet raised her arms in this Tour de Ski (twice 2nd). The Norwegian made the difference in the skating part, leaving behind a trio of pursuers made up of her compatriot Astrid Slind, the Austrian Teresa Stadlober and the Swede Ebba Andersson.
These three cross-country skiers finished more than 30 seconds behind Johaug, who thus takes control of the general with 22 seconds ahead of Slind before the last event on Sunday, a 10km skating mass-start. The day after her superb sprint victory, Nadine Fähndrich ranked 24th, more than 5 minutes behind Johaug and one place ahead of Anja Weber, the other Swiss at the start.
ats/fg
Swiss
