Nice gesture from her teammates blocking the cameraman from filming her.
Claudel the first Frenchwoman winning a world cup race.
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Nice gesture from her teammates blocking the cameraman from filming her.
Claudel the first Frenchwoman winning a world cup race.
Called her win yesterday!
I hope Karlsson is ok, that looks worrying!
Did she get tips on how to pace yourself on the climb by Calle himself?
So they held the victory ceremony without the actual winner. It's clear Karlsson is not OK enough still, one just has to hope she hasn't done too much lasting damage to herself with todays effort.
Røthe and Krüger to the front at the base very much as expected. Tønseth has somehow managed to escape Covid despite his partner leaving the Tour a few days ago with it. Klæbo looks physically terrible but he's hanging in there well in terms of time and position. He'd need to collapse as badly as Frida did earlier to lose this though, Krüger needs a LOT more time on this. Holund might grab the podium now. Lapierre going really well too.
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The French will surely be campaigning for more races with steep climbs after this. Lapierre is 1,69 and 63kg so he ought to be a cyclist really, but while I had him on my radar for a top 10, I hadn't expected the podium, not with the Norwegian armada and Friedrich Moch. Really impressive stuff from him, staying with Moch for a long time, then catching and dropping Sjur Røthe toward the end to take the podium. Klæbo suffered on the steepest stuff but he got it back together comfortably near the end. Tønseth completely blew up and probably regrets the folly of trying to stay with Krüger and Røthe at the base. Pellegrino in the top 10, wow.
Pellegrino was already 16th when he did it the first time ever and back then he was even more of a pure sprinter. He has always been much better on the climb than De Fa. He's also a lot lighter and shorter than most sprinters, so it's not that much of a surprise.
Calle doing Calle things, at least Poromaa did well all things considered and what had happened to his gf before.
Last year Pellegrino didn't race for the gc and he still managed a 20th place, against a stacked field. This year he did a lot better in the other races and 9 of the guys who finished ahead of him last year didn't start.
In that sense Urevc getting a stage top 10 is more out of the blue.
Kinda surprises me that Nöckler is always so bad on the climb. Prilobably no incentive to try harder, but for his size the guy has a great engine. He's a good cyclist, who has finished 2nd on the short version of the Maratona dles Dolomites before. I guess it's just too steep for him and skating was never his strength either.
In that sense Urevc getting a stage top 10 is more out of the blue.
Kinda surprises me that Nöckler is always so bad on the climb. Prilobably no incentive to try harder, but for his size the guy has a great engine. He's a good cyclist, who has finished 2nd on the short version of the Maratona dles Dolomites before. I guess it's just too steep for him and skating was never his strength either.
A short review of the Italian performance at the Tour: better than expected.
Apparently Nöckler crashed in that stupid curve before the final Zorzi climb yesterday, but still finished inside the stage top 30. He had a bet with Pellegrino about who'd do better on the stage. Also, according to him the Italian waxing team is on a whole other level since 2 years ago. Back then the riders had to do a lot of the testing themselfs, now they take care of most of the stuff. His next big goals are the Marcialonga and the 50km race at the WC.
Pellegrino exceeded the expectations, the lackluster route and the rather conservative racing played a part, but he did great. Mocellini showed that his first podium was not a fluke.
De Fa did what I does, another podium in the Val di Fiemme mass start. He was really happy to get his first podium under Cramer, all the Italians seem to really like him. He's the one Italian where I actually believe that he peaked at a young age, a bit like Sedov on the Russian team back in the day. He was really good at a young age, but never lived up to the hype.
Davide Graz was a bit under the weather at the start of the season because of the increase in training volume under Cramer. He was decent in the 20km pursuit in Obersdorf, where he was able to catch up with the front group, but cracked a bit on the final lap. I'm not too happy with the fact that they didn't have him finish the Tour for the 3rd year in a row, despite him not being sick on injured. One more day wouldn't have done him, who is better at skating anyway, no harm and doing the Alpe Cermis for the first time would have been a learning experience.
n the women's side Ganz was sadly sick in mid December and lost some of her good early season shape, but she did well in the Val di Fassa stages (she's from there, that's why she was leading the bunch in the stadium once yesterday). Today she also got a decent 17th place, ahead of Hennig. Between this and her results in Lahti last season I think that she has the potential to become a solid top 20 skier ever against stronger fields (mainly in classic skiing).
At the end, some considerations about the route:
IMO you also need at least one skating individual start. Klaebo might disagree, but the race probably needs it. But they probably need to re-think the whole race format. With the rise of Klaebo and Bolshunov it has become pretty much a 2 men fight. Because of Sundby's dominance they reduced the amount of proper distance skiing in the Tour, but now you probably need to go the other way. We need more proper distance races. An individual start skating race in Toblach and a Cortina-Toblach classic pursuit would be some of my favourite additions, besides using the proper lap in Val Müstair. If they did that they could even keep the final climb as a mass start (this year the small tracks on the run in to the Alpe Cermis were on the limit, if someone cashed and landed outside of it the consequences could have been really bad because of the lack of snow).
You either need more proper distance races in the Tour (my prefered option), or we need to reduce the amout of bonus seconds for sprinters from the current maximum of 60 down to 30 like the mini-Tours usually have, not my preferred option, but also a possibility.
Apparently Nöckler crashed in that stupid curve before the final Zorzi climb yesterday, but still finished inside the stage top 30. He had a bet with Pellegrino about who'd do better on the stage. Also, according to him the Italian waxing team is on a whole other level since 2 years ago. Back then the riders had to do a lot of the testing themselfs, now they take care of most of the stuff. His next big goals are the Marcialonga and the 50km race at the WC.
Pellegrino exceeded the expectations, the lackluster route and the rather conservative racing played a part, but he did great. Mocellini showed that his first podium was not a fluke.
De Fa did what I does, another podium in the Val di Fiemme mass start. He was really happy to get his first podium under Cramer, all the Italians seem to really like him. He's the one Italian where I actually believe that he peaked at a young age, a bit like Sedov on the Russian team back in the day. He was really good at a young age, but never lived up to the hype.
Davide Graz was a bit under the weather at the start of the season because of the increase in training volume under Cramer. He was decent in the 20km pursuit in Obersdorf, where he was able to catch up with the front group, but cracked a bit on the final lap. I'm not too happy with the fact that they didn't have him finish the Tour for the 3rd year in a row, despite him not being sick on injured. One more day wouldn't have done him, who is better at skating anyway, no harm and doing the Alpe Cermis for the first time would have been a learning experience.
n the women's side Ganz was sadly sick in mid December and lost some of her good early season shape, but she did well in the Val di Fassa stages (she's from there, that's why she was leading the bunch in the stadium once yesterday). Today she also got a decent 17th place, ahead of Hennig. Between this and her results in Lahti last season I think that she has the potential to become a solid top 20 skier ever against stronger fields (mainly in classic skiing).
At the end, some considerations about the route:
IMO you also need at least one skating individual start. Klaebo might disagree, but the race probably needs it. But they probably need to re-think the whole race format. With the rise of Klaebo and Bolshunov it has become pretty much a 2 men fight. Because of Sundby's dominance they reduced the amount of proper distance skiing in the Tour, but now you probably need to go the other way. We need more proper distance races. An individual start skating race in Toblach and a Cortina-Toblach classic pursuit would be some of my favourite additions, besides using the proper lap in Val Müstair. If they did that they could even keep the final climb as a mass start (this year the small tracks on the run in to the Alpe Cermis were on the limit, if someone cashed and landed outside of it the consequences could have been really bad because of the lack of snow).
You either need more proper distance races in the Tour (my prefered option), or we need to reduce the amout of bonus seconds for sprinters from the current maximum of 60 down to 30 like the mini-Tours usually have, not my preferred option, but also a possibility.
Bring back the skiathlon, prologue, Cortina-Toblach, cut down on bonus seconds, change the final stage back to its original format. Everything nowadays is tailor made for someone like Klæbo. Of course the pedestrian racing helps too.
With more proper distance races I'd actually don't mind keeping the current format of the final stage, as it would make the other proper distance races more important because you can't gain minutes on the final stage alone.
Skiathlons are a bit of a pain in the ass of race organizers because you need really wide tracks.
Honest Question: how many Tours would Northug have won with the current format? Seems like the mass start on the Alpe Cermins alone would have helped him a lot, plus multiple sprints with lots of bonus seconds and less chances for distance specialists to gain tons of time.
Hard to say for Northug. I was just reminiscing, the only pure distance racers to win the tour on the men’s side are Bauer (2x) and Legkov. Legkov was able to qualify in most of the TDS sprints and some of the regular World Cup sprint, but Bauer none. The tours that he won, he was dominant, especially in 2008. In 2010 he broke away in the 20km classic mass start in Val Di Fiemme, and left Northug for dead. Legkov was the first and so far only tds winner not to have won a stage during the entire tour. He finished first on the Cermis, but he didn’t have the fastest time. In 2012 he produced the fastest time up the climb and also won the 5km in Toblach. Bauer never qualified for the heats, as far as I know. So perhaps Bauer is the only pure distance skier to win the overall TDS.
Karlsson is the first skier to win and lose the Tour on the same day.
What an awful climb, let's not forget she has hyped herself let alone the Swedes who had her at minimum Andersson level and maximum Johaug level. Her technique on the turns was horrific, every single turn was stop and start again.
Psychologically, today must have been a killer for Karlsson with all those skiers going past her. I guarantee TUW, Kertu and even Rosie must be thinking what if they had done something different in the earlier stages as EVERYONE believed you needed to have a head start on Karlsson.
ps Penny for Parmakoskis thoughts as she would have won had she stayed healthy.
What an awful climb, let's not forget she has hyped herself let alone the Swedes who had her at minimum Andersson level and maximum Johaug level. Her technique on the turns was horrific, every single turn was stop and start again.
Psychologically, today must have been a killer for Karlsson with all those skiers going past her. I guarantee TUW, Kertu and even Rosie must be thinking what if they had done something different in the earlier stages as EVERYONE believed you needed to have a head start on Karlsson.
ps Penny for Parmakoskis thoughts as she would have won had she stayed healthy.
Oberstdorf and Val Di Fiemme have wide tracks. The question is, how much snow are they able to have?
It would be nice to have the TDS at other venues, for a change. Ramsau, Obertilliach, La Clusaz, Seefeld, St. Johann in Tirol (maybe), Goms, Asiago, Cogne, Oberwiesenthal, Reit im Winkl, Klagenfurt, Schonach, Le Grand Bornard, Brezno Ozrblie…of course some of these never hosted world cups, at least not in XC, but if FIS wanted (or cared enough) they could homologize some of the trails and work with race organizers to make quality courses, to the standards that they see fit.
Well it happens, Isometsä wasn’t completely wrong when he questioned her race tactics. The thing is, she’s been at or near the top of just about every stage except the sprint a couple days ago.
I am really interested to see how the Swedish women who missed the tour (Andersson, Sundling, Ribom, Hagström) get on in the next world cups, as they prepare for Planica. Not sure what will happen with Svahn. She hasn’t raced a regular World Cup since early February 2021, at home in Ulricehamn. She raced in Oberstdorf at the world’s, but couldn’t make the final. With so many good sprinters, I am not sure if she’ll make it unless she gets on the podium in more than one sprint. If they are healthy, the Swedes will be favorites in Planica, though many were saying the same thing the last two major championships and they fell apart. Sundling’s strong anchor saved them (mostly Karlsson, who blew up in the third leg) in Beijing. Without the Russians, who won last at the Olympics, it opens the door a bit. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany (assuming Carl gets back healthy) will figure again. The Americans need to improve their classic (which they never will, at least not the current group) for them to seriously challenge for titles.
I was a bit suprised how Karlsson was hyped for this stage. Compared to Andersson is taller and heavier and has a better technique in general still they are evenly matched on usual races so I thought she would be worse. The way she skied the steep part was awful so I think it was more that then the pacing that cost her. Then when she couldn’t follow Weng I think she got really stressed and that what’s caused the collapse.
For Svahn I say it’s almost certain she”ll race in Planica. Even if Sweden has a strong sprint team it’s just Sundling, Ribom, Dahlqvist and Hagström that are able to medal apart from Svahn. Down to Dyvik is a huge step, there we are talking semifinal at best. My guess is what Svahn showed in the first two sprints is also around World cup semifinal. She was easily beating young Rosenberg who showed her ability in Val Mustair. Then it’s a question if she can progress with more high intensity training or if she needs more base training. The big risk is of course that she never will be able to reach the power in her shoulder she had before the accident (similar to Dyrhaug who retired when he realized that while his shoulder allowed him to ski at top level - it was psychical impossible to reach the strength he had before).
Sweden will also have 5 spots for the women’s sprint, as Sundling is the defending champion.
Exactly, forgot to mention that and its why I concluded Svahn will be there. The 4 mentioned are by the way already nominated so officially it will come down to Les Rousses (or it’s replacement venue as I heard that there for the third straight year is a risk of cancellation - this time due lack of snow). Svahn will be there, Dyvik will be there and possibly some more (I think Sundling will get the COC leader quota now that Rovaniemi was cancelled due to cold temperatures and since it’s Sweden it’s likely someone from WCH-team may be absent). But in reality I think Svahn will get the place if she feels ready and look decent.
I'm sure Karlsson will be much better the next time. The big difference between her and the Swedish men is that she's able to work on her weaknesses and learn from her mistakes. I don't want to bring up talent as a factor, because frankly I dont think that she's that much more talented than someone like Calle.
I can only talk about the tracks that I know, but Obertilliach is only suited for individual starts. While it's at decent altitude and the area is known for having tons of snowfall (usually), the loop there, aka the Biathlon loop (the only FIS approved one and proper loop they have) is probably too easy for mass start races. You could do something there under the right circumstances and I'm sure that the athletes would like the fact that it would be a really short transfer to Toblach, but I also doubt that they'd want to organize a race over the chrismas holidays. XC skiing and hiking is the driving force behind their winter tourism (much more than in the Hochpustertal), so I don't think that they are willing to close the tracks for the general public during such a crucial part of the season.
Still, if Bormio is willing to host a big Alpine Skiing race right after chrismas everything is possible.
Seefeld after Val Müstair and before Toblach would be a good idea, small transfers and the track are good.
I forgot to respond to this post. Overall I agree, but Sasha clearly doesn't have the Vino coolness factor. If anyone is the Vino of XC skiing it's probably his fellow Kazakh Poltoranin.
Speaking of him, his will end soon. You know who's gonna try to pull a 2012 Vino at the next Olympics.
Frankly, the guy's classic skiing was always a joy to watch so I'd still cheer for him 100%.
I couldn't disagree more with that comparison.
In terms of ability, Karlsson is the most talented young female skier I've ever seen...frightening ability.
Is she a drama queen? Yes
Does she go too hard in most races? Yes
Are her tactics questionable? Yes
At some point, if she puts all the pieces of the jigsaw together she'll be unstoppable.
Also, Urevc what an incredible tour she had, she's another one that if puts the sprint/distance pieces together could very well be the new Bjorgen.
Yeah, but look at how much stupid stuff Calle has done over the years, coaching himself or adding extra bodybuilding style workouts (without telling his coach) because he wanted to look god for the ladies). The guy cruises on his talent.
Of couse Karlsson is one hell of a talent, but the main thing that I wanted to point out is that she has shown that she can fix some of her flaws and learn from her mistakes, unlike the Swedish men.
Calle’s career is likely coming to an end in the next season or two. I don’t see him continuing on until 2026, or even 2025 for the Trondheim world’s. I am not convinced he’ll be in form to challenge for medals in Planica.
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