Klebo declassified Bolshunov in the classic mass start at the Tour de Ski, the Norwegian ran in the Russian style
Klebo ran the race like a Russian. And defeated Bolshunov in a classic mass start
The leaders of the Russian and Norwegian national teams have switched roles. It looked very curious.
Johannes Klebo won the Tour de Ski. After the classic mass start before the final mountain, this is already obvious. Alexander Bolshunov, after two consecutive victories in the multi-day race, will have to concede the title of king. Two minutes of separation is simply impossible to win back. Klebo conducted a race in the style of Bolshunov – he was in the lead all the time, worked, did not sit behind his backs and just ran away from all his rivals. Power, of course.
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Before the mass start, Bolshunov still had chances of winning in the overall standings. Now they simply do not exist.
Alexander tried to race in the Klebo style. He tried to keep behind the backs of his rivals, kept close to the Norwegian, but did not come forward. But Johannes, when others pushed him to the fifth or sixth position, almost immediately returned to the ranks of the leaders. He controlled everything both on the bonus point cutoff, which was on the second circle, and on the bonus second cutoff, which was on the fourth circle.
The second was much more important, and Klebo did not let the Finn Ivo Niskanen forward, who tried to break away. Bolshunov, who held out in the second half of the top ten, lost in this second half of the top ten, since he broke a stick on the rise, while he shifted again, while he got out of the crowd, he earned only two seconds.
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Klebo and Niskanen began to run away. Moreover, the Norwegian did not pack at all. He worked on a par with the Finn, they changed places, took turns leading and … ran away. Bolshunov approach the previous state up to four six seconds.
Johannes on the penultimate lap left Niskanen, one of the best classists in the world. Its advantage was overwhelming. He could afford to run a circle at a walking pace, defiantly drove into the ascent by rolling, and not by a “mill”, and at the finish line to perform a beautiful acceleration. Niskanen retained second place.
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Bolshunov, with the help of Denis Spitsov, who was dragging him, and a little later Alexei Chervotkin, tried to keep up, but still lagged behind. On the last climb, Denis and Alexey rushed forward, realizing that if this was not done, then it would be possible to remain without medals, and at the finish line they determined who was superfluous in the top-3. Chervotkin is the third, Spitsov, the master of the skating style, is the fourth. Bolshunov finished only fifth.
Can Alexander play two minutes in the race up the Alpe Cermis? No. To do this, Klebo must simply stand up, and Johannes is now incredibly powerful and confident.
But at the Olympics, the picture may be completely different. The two best skiers of our time are planning to run all races in Beijing.