By Maximo Steverlynck
Rounding off the Tour de Ski’s time in Davos was a 20-kilometer classic pursuit race on Thursday morning. The starting order was based on the sprints from yesterday, a change from the regular pursuit order based on general classification that we’re used to seeing. In unfortunate news for U.S. fans, Gus Schumacher withdrew overnight with sickness following a long day and a late night on Wednesday, and did not start today.
The women’s race was defined by heavy snow both before and during the race, making for a slow race especially for those near the front of the pack, with many attacks brought back as soon as the next downhill. Organizers’ failure to send out more forerunners amidst the snowfall, allegedly contrary to promises to do just that, came in for heavy criticism after the race.
All things considered, it was a fantastic day for the U.S. women, with Rosie Brennan (USA) placing second 0.8 seconds behind Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) and Jessie Diggins (USA) rounding out the podium in third, 8.7 seconds behind the leading pace.
Speaking in comments to Nordic Insights regarding the track conditions, Brennan said it was “Definitely challenging conditions today with the new snow. It made it hard to be in the front and groom the tracks for everyone. Knowing there were doublepolers in there, I wanted to try and see [what I could make happen], and I learned pretty quickly that leading is challenging, so I tried to be strategic about where I pushed the pace.”
Diggins made her podium finish despite an early fall. Speaking to Nordic Insights post-race, Diggins said the race was “Really interesting, definitely a different kind of race. [It was] a good day to be patient and roll with it, and see what happens.” Speaking about her crash, Diggins said, “It hurts, a lot actually, so I’m glad I have a day to rest. Right on the muscle above the bone, I just punched it really hard.”
Diggins’s comments a few hours after the race were more upbeat than in the immediate aftermath, which had led Expressen to question the potential of Diggins’s continued participation in the Tour. “Jessie is really tough,” Jason Cork told the Swedish paper, according to an auto-translation. “She’s used to finishing races with a bang, so I doubt there will be any problems.”
Other top results from U.S. women today included Novie McCabe in 19th, Sophia Laukli in 25th, and Sammy Smith in 28th.
Julia Kern also withdrew from the Tour overnight, but five of the six American women who originally started remain in the race.
“Although my plan was to do the whole tour this year, my plans got a bit derailed by getting the flu two weeks ago and I was honestly just happy to be on the start line the past few days,” Kern wrote in the Instagram post embedded above. “Plans change, and that’s okay — onto the next after some rest and rebuilding.”
Snow stopped and track conditions stabilized in time for the later men’s race, with the sun shining and the tracks glazed over. Zanden McMullen and Scott Patterson are suddenly the only two U.S. men remaining in the Tour, following a combination of sickness and what was likely a planned withdrawal on Kevin Bolger’s part following the final sprint stage.
Both men put up very respectable results, finishing 28th (McMullen) and 25th (Patterson), respectively. Patterson’s performance, in particular, was impressive even considering nothing other than the amount of passing he had to do, moving from the day’s last starter, 64th, up to 25th over 22km of racing.
In written comments to Nordic Insights post-race, Patterson said, “Starting last and seeing the women’s race, I knew it would be important to move up when possible but also conserve energy in the single fast track. I focused on moving up with a few others who started late like Dietmar Nockler and Jens Burman. Each time up the hills, we moved up and then used the draft for the downs. Unfortunately, it never was quite enough to get up with the lead pack, but I’m still psyched with moving up a lot of places. Overall, it was a fun race with a very different dynamic than normal world cups with some unusual weather thrown in the mix.”
The Norwegian men’s squad had a banner day, locking out the podium lead with Harald Østberg Amundsen in first, followed by Henrik Dønnestad 0.5 seconds back, silencing critics who had questioned his selection for the Tour. The podium was rounded out by Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget in third, 34.6 seconds back.
The day saw significant shakeups in the overall standings, with podium spots changing hands in both the women’s and men’s races going into the final two days of the Tour. Coming into the day, the men’s podium was composed of Harald Østberg Amundsen in yellow, followed by Erik Valnes 11 seconds behind, and rounded out by Federico Pellegrino, 25 seconds behind.
Following today’s race, both second and third changed hands while Amundsen solidified his lead. Valnes fell from 2nd to 7th, 1:47 behind the pace and supplanted by Henrik Dønnestad, 1:39 behind Amundsen, while Pellegrino fell from 3rd to 8th, 2:22 behind the pace, and replaced by Nyenget, also 1:39 behind Amundsen’s pace.
On the women’s side, Diggins also solidified her lead, though by slim margins. This morning, the podium was made up of Jessie Diggins on the top step, Linn Svahn in 2nd, 33 seconds behind the pace, and completed by Jonna Sundling, 1:22 behind the pace. Svahn lost significant time, falling from 2nd to 7th, now 1:08 behind Diggins’s pace. She was replaced by Kerttu Niskanen following the Finn’s win today. Niskanen now sits in second, 44 seconds behind the pace. Sundling retained her 3rd step on the podium and gained time against Diggins, starting the day 1:22 behind the pace and ending it 52 seconds back.
Tomorrow is a day off for the athletes. The Tour de Ski wraps up with two races in Val di Fiemme, a 15km mass start classic on Saturday and the final climb on Sunday.
Results: women today | men today | women’s TdS overall | men’s TdS overall
