Official xc skiing world cup thread

[maltiv]

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/06122011/58/neuner-quit-25.html

http://www.magdalena-neuner.de/cms/...1211.htm&sid=e1f59951cb28b785331bd75fedddb6d0

Retiring at 25?! I mean she could still have won the white jersey at TDF at that age...Really sad news for the sport, I thought she would at least do another olympic

 

[Kvinto]

Retiring at 25?! I mean she could still have won the white jersey at TDF at that age...Really sad news for the sport, I thought she would at least do another olympic

i'm disappointed too, but imo for a successful athlete retiring at 25 (if it is not the matter of injury) is the first step for coming back at about 27

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Olga Zaitseva said she'd retire this last offseason, I see her on the startlists still.

To be fair to Neuner, it must be pretty hard to motivate yourself when you've achieved all she has at her age. All it takes is a few setbacks this season or a rivalry to flare up and the feeling of unfinished business to have her coming back, but right now, she has what, 10 World championship medals? Three Olympic? I can see the motivation falling.

Maybe she'll have a go at XC here and there or something, just to test the waters, have a bit more fun away from the pressure of being Germany's golden girl in Germany's favourite wintersport, and the expectation that comes with it. The commentators on ZDF during the Östersund pursuit kept on theorising on what could possibly have caused Neuner to be losing places and losing time to Mäkäräinen, Berger and Sleptsova as if it was unthinkable that she might just not be on form. It must be hard when victory is always expected. And I guess the chance to retire at home, as it were, probably played a factor.

 

[meat puppet]

I don't know, seems kinda rational actually, even if it is bad for the sport. If, and when, she is talented and ambitious, there is a whole world of possibilities for her to make it either in another sport or to pursue a career beyond sports. Dunno if she has had the time to study anything yet, but if she wants to I bet she has the resources to do so.

Picking up from what Libertine said, she is in a kind of catch 22: the pressure to win is tremendous and, at the same time, what is there left for her to win, in biathlon anyway?

As for this year and re speed on the skis, it has seemed to me that she is a couple kilos off judging by the figure alone. Probably wise, given that the season is long and the fat will thaw out.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Besides, she came 1st, 3rd and 3rd in the 3 races. That's a lot better than the way she started last season (missing Östersund through illness and then coming 7th and 7th in the individual races at Hochfilzen, though she did take the relay by the scruff of the neck), and is losing out in a narrow battle on ski time to Kaisa Mäkäräinen really that shameful? We knew Berger was in form from the XC World Cup a couple of weeks ago, and Sleptsova put in the fastest ski time of anyone that day, so that's more Sveta performing up than Lena performing down. The only one you could say was properly surprising was Synnøve Solemdal, but her results were standout much like Miriam Gößner's were at this time last year - we don't know how long that form can last.

None of the German women looked to have really hit form, and if non-peak Neuner can still podium in every race, then that's still pretty damned good.

Maybe I can call Franzi Hildebrand an exception to that, but she looks like a real anomaly in the German ranks - a slow skier with a reliable, accurate shooting eye.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If she's feeling the pressure, Neuner isn't showing it, winning another sprint ahead of Mäkäräinen. They could well be the ones to duke out the World Cup, but another good showing from Domracheva (and Solemdal) and things are looking interesting.

Carl Johan Bergman with a very impressive show again too - both sprint winners at Östersund doubling up today. Svendsen was very impressive, leading home those with a penalty, and Weger will go home very happy with a podium. Disappointing from Martin Fourcade, however - 22nd is not ideal ahead of tomorrow's pursuit, and what's more his ski speed wasn't really there either.

Looking forward to seeing the teams for the relays on Sunday. Another thing I had been looking forward to was seeing the Le Grand Bornand facilities - they have the finishing line/stadium section over a street - in fact sharing a finishing line with the 2009 Tour de France stage there. However, a lack of snow in the French Alps has meant I will have to wait another year, and Hochfilzen will do back to back World Cup meets.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Interesting race breaking out. Florian Graf looks like a keeper for the DSV, but can't quite keep up with Tarjei Bø. Bergman and Graf are losing time to Makoveev, so maybe the last few days' exertions are catching up with Bergman, or is Makoveev wasting too much energy too early?

Well, it's academic now, since Makoveev missed 4. Absolute shocker for the Russian. Bø goes clear and takes the lead, Graf shooting faster than the Norwegian star but snatching at the final shot and missing the fifth target, Alexis Boeuf now coming up into the mix with clean shooting, and Ustyugov. Svendsen up to 4th, he's dangerous. Ferry and Weger are the other two in an Ustyugov-led train chasing Tarjei Bø down, and Ustyugov's pace is dropping Ferry, Lapshin and Graf. The Germans appear to be having a group meet between 10th and 20th, with Greis, Peiffer, Rösch and Birnbacher all settled into that area, but a strong pace from Greis, aided by Lowell Bailey and Daniel Mesotitsch, is pulling that trio back into contention.

Bø shoots super-fast but misses one - as do most of the others. Benjamin Weger is clear though! Behind him Timofey Lapshin, an unexpected 1-2 for Bø to chase down on lap 4! Germans now have all the spots from 10th to 13th after Rösch, Birnbacher and Peiffer all shot clear. Bergman clear, so he's going to come back into the mix as well. Very fast shooting time from Bjørndalen will bring him up through the ranks too.

Bø has Ferry and Bailey in his tracks, then the next group is led by Svendsen and Boeuf, followed by Bergman and Mesotitsch, with the German train in the mix as well. Weger's lead is slowly eroding. Svendsen has dropped his group and made contact with the Bø group. Florian Graf back into it, Andi Birnbacher and Ole Einar Bjørndalen just tailing slightly off the back of the Bergman group.

Weger shoots all 5 down, but so does Bø, and the Norwegian is hungry!!! Svendsen and Ferry also inside 10 seconds! Bergman, Bjørndalen, Mesotitsch, Graf and Shipulin all inside 30... looks like fairly easy shooting conditions out there today, with lots and lots of skiers going clear.

Sorry to say it, but in front of Bø and Svendsen Weger is a bit of a sitting duck, and indeed they've already caught him. Arnd Peiffer now moving up with his ski speed, into the top 10 now. Makoveev now back up to 11th, a reasonable recovery after that horrible second prone. Weger's taking time on Ferry and Bergman, but the two Norwegians are just sat in his tracks, looking ominous. Looks good for a second podium for the Swiss, but the victory may be too much to ask with such classy opposition.

Indeed, there's the attack from Bø, Svendsen follows, and Weger is blown out the back door as we come into the final few hundred metres.

Sprint between the two Norwegians... Svendsen gets it, by 0,1"!!! Bjørndalen wins the sprint for 5th after Bergman faded. 3 Norwegians in the top 5. 6 Germans in the top 19 - interesting relay selections tomorrow. Martin Fourcade made no inroads after yesterday's 22nd, finishing 23rd. Very disappointing from the Frenchman.

 

[meat puppet]

Man, you should be a commentator!

Anyhoo, what's with Fourcade? I didn't catch the race for I was training, but did he simply suck at shooting or was his skiing off too? If the latter, I wonder if he's having an infection or overreaching, because the form fluctuation is kinda big.

So, in the ladies race Neuner has a 15sec advantage over Mäkäräinen and we are ready to go!

E: Never mind, Mäkäräinen really off today. Three misses in the first two shootings, and bad day on skis as well (clearly slower than Neuner from the beginning).

Domracheva having a nice race though, good for her! She goes like (insert a non four letter word here)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Darya is already losing time hand over fist. She can be really quick when on form, but can be absolutely horrible when not... the Norwegian team has really stepped up actually; with Flatland out not just Solemdal but also Elise Ringen have started to really show something. Zaitseva and Ekholm have actually caught Mäkäräinen rather than vice versa.

5/5 for Neuner, and she's away. The Russians go clear but Mäki and Ekholm miss. Henkel goes clear too. Berger and Brunet on their way through the ranks too, seriously Tora Berger is such a polar opposite to her brother in the range it's incredible. Ringen going with Henkel and Kuzmina behind them. Domracheva and Mäkäräinen catching the group.

5/5 from Neuner again, pressure is on. Both Vilukhina and Zaitseva go clear after them. Ringen, Henkel and Domracheva 5/5 too, but Kuzmina misses 3, Mäkäräinen 2 and Ekholm 1 and they will drop down the order. Berger went clear however, and she will be close at hand. This race is a bit less crazy than the men's so far, as the gaps are a bit larger and the groups are 2s and 3s rather than oft-changing 3s, 4s and 5s. We'll see what happens when Lena's old nemesis the standing shoot rears its ugly head, however.

Berger is lapping faster than Neuner now, and it looks like Dorin and one of the other Russians coming up into the top 10 now. Ringen is starting to actually put some pressure on Andrea Henkel - the Norwegians sure know how to make them quick. Just like the Germans in fact. Brunet is fighting her way up through the ranks too - 66/70 shots for the season for the metronomic Frenchwoman. We'll just have to see how her endurance is.

5/5 again for Neuner - but she was VERY lucky with that first shot. Very close. Vilukhina misses the last, Zaitseva goes clear but shoots a bit slower. Vilukhina tried to put the pressure onto her compatriot, but snatched a bit too quickly at the final shot. Henkel goes clear, but Berger's pace has cost her and sadly for the spectacle she misses 2. Ringen and Domracheva both miss 1, but Brunet is Brunet and that's 5-5 again. Ekholm misses 2, shocking! The mystery Russian from earlier was Bogaliy-Titovets, by the way. She's up to 7th, ahead of the sharpshooting French duo of Brunet and Dorin. Neuner now has a full lap racing completely on her own to recall her Antholz meltdown from a few years ago. Zaitseva is at 25" and has really done a good job of staying with her. Darya Domracheva has pulled 11" back on Henkel this lap and caught Vilukhina too. Very interesting after her poor start.

3/5 for Neuner! A good chance for Zaitseva here, she MUST go 5/5! She doesn't! She goes 4/5! Can Domracheva, Vilukhina and Henkel catch? Zaitseva cuts Neuner off on the way into the penalty loop... Henkel misses 1! Vilukhina misses 2! BUT DOMRACHEVA HITS ALL FIVE!!!

Domracheva has the lead by under a second, Zaitseva just behind Neuner too - 3 skiers inside a second. Domracheva has been mighty quick in the last couple of laps... I am a Darya fan. She is a very mercurial athlete, and on form she can be one of the best on the skis... Neuner has looked touchable this season, and Domracheva is opening up a bit of a gap but losing it again on the uphill, and Zaitseva and Neuner are fighting over 2nd behind her... Neuner looks a bit troubled. Domracheva is really running out of steam after her exertions in the last two laps however.

Neuner back on terms picking up time on the climb - could be a three-woman sprint here! Neuner attacks on the small climb into the hill, Domracheva let the inside line go... sprint finish, here comes Zaitseva!!!!

Domracheva wins!!! Everybody else completely forgotten about on the last lap. Domracheva outsprints Zaitseva and Neuner. Henkel outsprints Bogaliy for 4th, 46 seconds back. Vilukhina another personal best with 6th, Dorin 7th, Brunet 8th, good shooting.

Log jam for 9th (Berger) and 10th (Kuzmina). Mäkäräinen 11th and Ekholm 12th, disappointing day for those two. Tofalvi, Bachmann and Ringen clear the top 15. Sleptsova impressive as well, up from 36th to 18th. Solemdal collapses from the top 10 down to 24th. You can't spin 9 misses any positive way. Domracheva's celebrations are really cute.

 

[meat puppet]

Go Darya!!!!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I managed to miss most of the men's relay, just caught the end of the final lap. Congrats to Brattsveen/Berger/Svendsen/Bø. I'll have to actually see what happened using the IBU's replay facility on their site.

Similarly, I couldn't catch the ski part of the Nordic Combined at Ramsau, but I did see the jump. The race sounds like it was quite exciting, with lots of people clustered together at the start and different people clustered together at the end, as well as Jan Schmid getting his first World Cup victory, holding off Jason Lamy Chappuis (who else?) at the end.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Women's relay time. Time to see if Franzi Hildebrand can fit in with the stellar German lineup of Bachmann, Henkel and Neuner (Gößner missing from the Worlds team last year but frankly it makes sense to have Hildebrand on first leg, when the ski speed is a bit more circumspect and the shooting is key, while Miri has unfortunately not been on the best of form so far this year and is as trustworthy as a politician in the shooting range).

Norway team would have looked quite weak on paper before last week, but now Horn-Ringen-Solemdal-Berger looks like a real potential winner. For Russia, Solokina is called in from the cold, while the weekend's revelation, Vilukhina, is going to rest up. The French team looks strong with Brunet, Bescond, Boilley and Dorin.

On lap 1 the pace is being driven, unsurprisingly, by Sleptsova. There's already a bit of a split between the top 10 and the rest. The big surprise? Anastasiya Kuzmina is leading off for Slovakia, and she isn't in that top 10 group.

However, Kuzmina needs no reloads, and only Marie-Laure Brunet can make it out of the range in front of her. Sleptsova needs all three reloads and that will put them back a bit. Hildebrand shoots circumspectly but accurately, but is overtaken in the range by Michela Ponza, Krystyna Palka and Valj Semerenko. Kuzmina catches Brunet on the lap, unsurprisingly.

10 for Brunet and Palka and they're on their way. Ponza and Sleptsova need a reload, so does Hildebrand. Kuzmina needs two. For the top 7, the status quo is roughly maintained; Kuzmina drops back a bit, Sleptsova comes forward a bit. Laukkanen struggled. Brunet is clearing targets quicker than the cameraman can shift to the next one. I would say that Franzi's lack of ski speed will hurt the Germans (she's fallen back into the clutches of Horn and Vitkova), but she'll hand over to Bachmann... who'll hand over to Henkel... who'll hand over to Neuner. No lack of speed there.

Brunet hands over to Bescond in the lead, Nowakowska just behind. Then Slovakia, but having already used Kuzmina I'd expect them to fall back in the order. Oberhofer for Italy, then Sorokina takes over for Russia, at the same time as Valj Semerenko hands over to her twin. Megan Imrie has had an excellent final lap for Canada and overtakes the Norway-Germany-Czech Republic group in the last stretch.

Vita the only one to go clear with no reloads at shooting 3, but Bescond and Gerekova get out just ahead of her. Andrea Henkel has gone 2nd, not Bachmann, my mistake, and she's struggled at the range, needing all her reloads. It was mostly the one-miss club at the top, however. Elise Ringen has gained a lot of places by going clear out of the second group, and is now up to 5th.

Bescond, Gerekova and Vita come in to shooting 4 together, with a bit of a lead over Oberhofer and Ringen. 1 miss for Semerenko and Oberhofer, 2 for Bescond, and Gerekova. 3 for Ringen and Henkel is in a lot of trouble when my stream froze and ruined everything. When I got it back I note Germany dropped down to 10th but no penalty loops so Henkel took her time but shot the targets down.

Ringen had dropped down to 8th but has made short work of passing the weaker skiing group in front of her, Semerenko is making hay while the sun shines, and now that the Ukraine have used up their trump cards in the twins, it'll be up to Inna Suprun, and then possibly Olena Pidhrushna will have the task of doing what Oksana Khvost'enko couldn't at the Worlds, and hold off a charging pack to win.

Prekopova tags in 5 seconds back, and Sophie Boilley another 6 seconds back. Runggaldier for Italy another 5 seconds back, then it's a pause before Elise Ringen can finally rest her weary legs and leave Synnøve Solemdal to it. Henkel has actually lost time and positions on lap 3, so a lot of pressure on Tina Bachmann to keep the Germans in some kind of contention when she tags in Magdalena Neuner.

Worrying signs for the Ukraine and Slovakia; Sophie Boilley, much as I like her, is not exactly Miri Gößner or Kaisa Mäkäräinen around the tracks, and she has easily caught and passed them both. Solemdal has passed Prekopova too and is catching the leaders. Sophie goes clear at Shooting 5, but so does Synnøve and the pressure is on, especially given Tora Berger will have Marie Dorin for breakfast on the tracks. 2 misses for Tina Bachmann and it's a day to forget for the DSV. Suprun also went clear, by the way, but Boilley's already shown she has the measure of her on the tracks; Solemdal is another matter, and indeed Synnøve has passed the young Frenchwoman on lap 8. Do not write out the Russians though - Bogaliy is shooting well and has them within 30 seconds, and with Zaitseva on the anchor leg they are undoubtedly a threat!

Solemdal shoots all 5 and shoots them fast and Norway are on their way to a double today. Boilley also clear, 6 seconds behind out of the range... But Bogaliy and Hojnisz are also clear, while Suprun is on her way to the penalty loop. Then the stream broke.

Boilley tags in Dorin 18 seconds after Solemdal tagged Berger. Good day for her but Solemdal was just better - matched her in the range, and we know she's a quicker skier. 38 seconds for Zaitseva to try and make up, then the Poles in 4th will have Agnieszka Cyl, before a group led by the Czechs but also containing Canada, the Ukraine and Italy. Neuner will be 2 minutes back which is too much even for her.

Berger holds her nerve to take the win just ahead of France; congratulations to Fanny, Elise, Synnøve and Tora. Zaitseva is her usual consistent self to take 3rd for the Russians. Several teams fell away in the final rounds, as is evidenced by Magdalena Neuner making very little time but gaining four places to 6th, and Darya Domracheva being able to bring the Belarusians from absolutely nowhere to finish 5th. A real shame for the Slovaks that they couldn't convert their good performance into a top result, but the Poles especially will be happy with their result, finishing 4th as a testament to good shooting and solid team strength, no major stars, just good all-round teamwork. You could argue that the Belarusians have that, just with the addition of a star, but they weren't on their A-game today, the Poles were. A horrible, horrible day for the Swedes, finishing 11th and not really challenging at any point after Högberg missed a couple at the first shooting. 3 penalty loops mixed in amongst their results, not sure when they came, as the team were already well down the order.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkVS...text=C2b3d8UDOEgsToPDskJqyxWKVAS1SLvNNfBCw7Fg

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The biathletes are back in Hochfilzen, and that means no Individual, so it's yet another sprint+pursuit.

The men went yesterday, and Tarjei Bø won out over Martin Fourcade; it seemed conditions got a bit faster as the race went on. The rest of the top 5 were surprises - Timofey Lapshin got on the podium, and Simon Schempp continued his good form from Östersund with a 4th place, on identical time to Jean-Guillaume Beatrix, though Schempp couldn't shoot clear while the Frenchman could. A good day for France continued as Simon Fourcade, the Fränk to Martin's Andy, shot clear and skied in for 6th place, easily the best of the early runners. Days to forget for the Austrians - nobody in the top 10 and only Eder in the top 15 - Arnd Peiffer, who hasn't been showing the speed we expect of him of late, down in 46th with just 2 penalties, Michael Greis, 53rd with just 1, Svendsen 54th with 4 penalties, Mesotitsch 58th with just 1, Shipulin 65th with just 1, and an absolutely woeful performance from Carl Johan Bergman in the yellow and red bib, coming 85th after 4 misses, losing the bib and not even getting to start the pursuit. He didn't even have the mitigating factor Peiffer, Greis and Shipulin can count on, of being among the unfortunate early runners that went before the conditions changed for skiing.

The women's race looks quite interesting. Olga Zaitseva was triumphant, primarily because of being more accurate than Darya Domracheva; she outskied her Russian opponent but missed 2 shots to Olga's 1, which made the difference. Solid shooting allowed Helena Ekholm to round off the podium, with 1 miss and 30 seconds behind Zaitseva's winning time. I don't know the shoot times, but Magdalena Neuner was 4th, her worst performance of the year (!), with the same shooting record as Darya, but 31 seconds behind the likable if unpredictable Belarusian, which could be notable as it demonstrates just how good Domracheva has been this year. Some of the big disappointments include Kuzmina and Berger, 23rd and 24th after 4 misses each, Brunet, 28th despite just one miss; the ski speed just isn't there for her, and Miriam Gößner, down in 42nd, but with the same number of misses as Kuzmina and Berger; usually you would expect her to be among the quickest on the day. When they start the Mass Starts, Miri will be nowhere to be seen, currently only 48th in the World Cup standings, a real step backwards after last season's breakthrough. It seems that while Schempp's career has come on in leaps and bounds this season, his girlfriend's one has stalled and regressed. Teja Gregorin is capable of better than 49th too, being outskied by the likes of Berger and Gößner is one thing, but she should not be being outskied by the likes of Sophie Boilley (I am a fan of hers, but let's be clear, she's a markswoman, not a hare), Natalya Burdyga and Romana Schrempf. Valj Semerenko will wonder what on earth went wrong too, missing 6 shots en route to 55th, while her sister continued the 5 theme with 5th place.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Birnbacher from 26th, Simon Fourcade from 6th and Ole Einar Bjørndalen from 15th, 20-20 for Andi and Ole and 19-20 from Simon and some serious, serious tension on the final lap as Eder, Bø and Martin Fourcade bottle it... for North Americans, Jay Häkkinen from 45th to 8th at the end of lap 4 and Jeremy Leguellec from 48th to 9th... some strong skiers behind them though.

Any of the 3 would deserve it - Simon deserved better than 6th from yesterday given that he shot clear and skied well but got the worst of conditions, Bjørndalen because he's such an incredible legend of the sport, and Birnbacher because he's fought from furthest back and has shot perfectly.

Great finale, sprinted out, and Andi Birnbacher wins by just .2 of a second from Bjørndalen!!!

Jakov Fak went from the top 10 to 52nd. That's not like him, and that isn't good enough.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Women's race rather less interesting than the men's; despite a cartridge problem at standing 2, Zaitseva shoots 20-20 from bib #1, and that's easily enough since everybody else keeps falling by the wayside. Ekholm 2nd after 19/20, and Domracheva 3rd despite 3 misses.

Though several others had her measure on the trails, they fell down in the range, and Zaitseva runs in as a comfortable victor. The big mover is Tora Berger, being her usual self in the standing shoot, from 24th to 4th, but she couldn't depose any of the podium from the sprint from doubling up. Mäkäräinen was best on the trails and that sees her to 5th, ahead of Andrea Henkel, who shot better but was caught by the Finn on the final lap. Bogaliy-Titovets, Dorin, another great performance from Vilukhina and Vita Semerenko round out the top 10; Magdalena Neuner returned to her old self in the range, missing 4 from standing, and just missed out on deposing JiaLin Tang for 11th. Brunet can only manage 14th, and Synnøve Solemdal rocks up for 15th. A really, really good day from Selina Gasparin, up to 18th from 52nd to the shock of the announcer. A somewhat better day for Miriam Gößner, up to 28th from 42nd, but still way off what she's capable of. It feels like, with the exceptions of Sophie Boilley and Synnøve Solemdal a lot of the hot young prospects from last year haven't really made a big impression this year, and instead surprise packages have come from those that were seldom even entered last year, like Elise Ringen, Olga Vilukhina and Franziska Hildebrand.

 

[meat puppet]

yup, zaitseva took a deserved win. must be quite frustrating for mäkäräinen really, 4 misses in total again and only one 5/5 shooting. to a bit lesser extent, this must apply to domracheva too.

but man do they ski beautifully in comparison to the rest. espcially their wassberg technique stands out on the longer, less steep climbs. the "V" of their skis is narrow as it should be and the momentum leads forward.

(finnish national tv network does not show xc skiing world cup races at moment, and Im not paying. any sites for streams?)

 

[goggalor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkVS...text=C2b3d8UDOEgsToPDskJqyxWKVAS1SLvNNfBCw7Fg

How the hell did she get that job? Her interviews are torture to watch.

Great race in the men's biathlon today.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Mixed relay in Hochfilzen today. Interesting mix of teams.

The full-strength or almost full-strength: Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Slovenia, and many of the smaller nations

The mix-and-match: France, USA, Poland

The below-full-strength: Germany, Sweden

The not-even-bothering-to-enter: Norway

 

[meat puppet]

tour de ski starts in a couple of days (29th of dec to be precise). any streams?

edit: whoops, i thought the days had been flying by apparently

 

[crapna]

http://www.lshunter.tv/other-live-streaming-video.html

 

[meat puppet]

kiitos!

and fook yeah, Justyna beat Björgen.

 

[Ferminal]

and fook yeah, Justyna beat Björgen.

Indeed, counting every one she loses!

 

[Nastyy]

Watch out for Lähteenmäki, would've definitely been third today without the crash. She has no major weaknesses and seems to be in top form, looking good for a top 5 overall.

In men's race can't see past Cologna and Northug, Manificat is right up there with those two except for the sprints and that will cost him too much time. Hellner looks good too, he'll lose time on stages with classic style though and that will cost him a podium.

 

[maltiv]

Harvey for the win tomorrow. Forecast says there will be snow, so everything will get back together.

Manificat could actually win the GC here if he doesn't lose too much in the sprints. I think he could do the final MTF at a blistering pace. This years Bauer, perhaps? Realistically though, it's probably between Cologna and Northug, but I would love to see Manificat or one of the Canadians take it home.