An undulating 5km Toblach course had a bit of everything for the skiers with a brutal first section out of the stadium with lots of double poling required followed by a sharp double ascent and ensuing downhill that allowed competitors to reach speeds of up to 80 km/h.
Fittingly as the holder of the purple bib for the Tour’s best climber, Amundsen seemed to have the advantage in the uphills.
Having won Tuesday’s 20km Freestyle by 21 seconds from Simen Hegstad Krueger, Amundsen blasted out of the starting gate to stretch his lead to 31.7s by 2.1km, only for Krueger, Andrew Musgrave (GBR) and Klaebo – who quickly caught up with his fellow chasers – to close the gap during the downhill sections.
The second lap followed a similar pattern. Amundsen took his lead out to 41.5s at 7.1km; by 10km it had shrunk to 17.7s. But could the others get close enough to challenge for the lead?
While Musgrave fell back, Klaebo and Krueger were joined by more pursuers, including Anger. Together, they started to close the gap further on Amundsen. Then we witnessed something extraordinary: the great Klaebo, so smooth and speedy on the downhills, was overhauled by Anger.
The 22-year-old even began to pull away. But not quite enough to catch Amundsen, who crossed the line in 35 minutes, 18.9 seconds, collapsing to the snow in relief as much as jubilation.
Swiss
