Re:
python said:
it seems like the tour de ski was only yesterday, and now another tour is about to close the season - the tour of canada starts tomorrow...8 races in 12 days.
as far as i could find, all major national teams (except, strangely, the russians) have already been officially announced. that is, we know all this season's leaders will be there (including i suppose, but have no way to verify, the russians).
the tour is quite different from the tds in that there will be no final monster climb like alp cermis and that 3 of the 8 races are 100% sprints. clearly, such a format favours sprint-prone all-rounders like northug, krogh and perhaps their nemesis ustiugov...the intrigue will be in how many bonus points 'pure' sprinters will be able to snatch away from the gc favourites. my guess, the iterations over a number of pure sprinters inclusion could be the reason why the russians haven't finalized the team so late. i'd love to see ustiugov crash the red machine. i do think he intends to as he was rumored (along with his reto/knaute teammates) to fly to canada a week earlier than the rest of their team.
sundby wants to and said he's ready to dominate again. the canadians with harvey intend to shine in a home tour. i hope, but got tired to wait, that the swedish turn will finally come. kalla and hellner have to deliver. and of course the french and the finns will resist the red domination..
i am waiting in excitement...
I had decent size reply, but wasn't able to submit the first time, so I'll just say this. It's gonna be an exciting tour for many reasons. First, it's great that it ends in N. America, Canada, to be precise. This is something different for the tour and it's nice to see them going to new venues like Gatineau and Montreal. Quebec City hosted two sprint races in december 2012 and obviously Canmore has hosted the WC on numerous occasions since the 1988 Olympics. Hopefully the home team does better than they have this season, but realistically, only Harvey has a chance to make something happen, particularly in the overall standings. The women have really not had anyone since Crawford retired two years ago, and they'll be happy if one of them breaks into the top 30. The American women will be tough, again, and with the quota they have racing in N. America, some more chances of new skiers coming to the fore. The men will be ok, but certainly nothing like the women.
Yes, I have high hopes for Ustiugov. He'll be a threat to the Norwegians, and I think if he's in good form, he has a real good shot at winning the overall tour and breaking up the Norwegian dominance at the overall wc ranking (he is 5th right now, but Dyrhaug is only 16 pts ahead and third is also mathematically possible, but he'll need to win the overall and one or two individual stages, but he's capable). The other Russians I think will be looking for individual glory, but I like the usual suspects, Legkov and Vylegzhanin for a chance at the tour podium. No hill climb means less chances for Legkov, but he's gotten a number of overall mini tour podiums without the need of Alpe Cermis, so too Vylegzhanin, who is really peaking at the right time. Bessmertnykh will be there for the classic stages and other guys like Belov, Larkov, Turyshev....not sure what they'll be able to do, but if the conditions are as they are predicted to be, cold(er), then they'll figure as well.
Hopefully no Norwegian 1-2-3-4-5, etc like we've had too many times this season. That's I will say on them.
The Swedes are getting better, it seems, finally. Looking forward to see what Hellner can do, what Kalla can do and whether or not Nilsson can snatch the overall sprint title from Falla and Oestberg who are in front of her. It's gonna be tough for her. The Drammen and Stockholm races where the jury ruled in favor of the Norwegians in both races, seems to have hurt her chances, but I think she's mentally tough enough to let that go and I think she'll win at least one of the three sprints in Canada.
Pellegrino is in a better position to win the sprint title, as he is ahead by a decent margin, but he'll need to still compete and be competitive and hopefully someone like Northug won't get on a roll and won't steal the overall away from him. Again, the less Norwegian victories, the better for the rest of the world.
Not sure about the rest of the field. The french men will be good, I assume, in the skate races and the two sprints (also skate), so I'll be surprised if they don't get at least one podium.
The German team hasn't had a breakthrough race this year. I think they've only had one podium, which was the Planic team sprint for the women, but other than that, it's been rather empty for them. I'll have to check the results, but I am pretty sure no individual podiums for either men or women. It's been a while since that has happened for them.
The Finnish women will be there to challenge, and they'll be factors in all the races. Their men are too up and down. I am not even gonna predict what they'll do or won't.
Poltoranin will also be there. He hasn't raced since he dropped out of the Oslo 50k. On one hand he'll be fresh, but on the other, too many weeks off of racing might make him a little lethargic to begin the tour. He's always good at the mini tours though, and there are enough classic races for him to leave a mark. The last stage is a 15km classic, handicap start pursuit (based on the overall tour standings up to that point), but I am not certain that he'll be fighting for a win or a podium.
I am excited for the start tomorrow!!!
Think about if you are judging according to your own standards.
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