Tour de Ski Starts this Weekend

Tue, Dec  26, 2006 - By Tour de Ski

Despite enormous efforts by the local organizing committee, the first two Stages of the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear at Nove Mesto na Morave (CZE), planned for 29th and 30th of December, had to be cancelled due to the lack of snow and mild weather.

Six competitions will take place in eight days, ending with the “Final Climb” in Val di Fiemme on 7th January. After the first stage in Munich (GER), the Tour will move to the 10,000-inhabitant village of Oberstdorf in Allgäu (850m over the sea level), in the southernmost part of Germany, approx. 2 hours from Munich. A shortened pursuit races with 5 km + 5 km for the ladies and 10 km + 10 km for the men will take place in the well-known Cross-Country Stadium Ried on 2nd of January. On the following day, 3rd of January, an individual race over 10 km (ladies) and 15km (men) in the classical technique will be on the schedule.

The fourth competition will take place in Asiago, Italy, on 5th of January. A second sprint competition in the free technique will be organized on the golf course (approx 1.100m) in the province of Vicenza.

The last venue will be in the valley of ‘Fiemme' (ITA, approx. 900m), which already hosted the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 2003. On 6th January 2007 the athletes will compete in a mass start race over 15 km (ladies) and 30 km (men) in the classical technique. The last competition on 7th January, the so-called ‘Final Climb,' will start in the Cross-Country Stadium Lago di Tesero and end on the Alpe Cermis, with the last climb stretching over 3,5 km with an altitude climb of 425m. The ladies race over 10 km and the men over 15 km in the free technique.

Course maps, course profiles etc. are available on www.tour-de-ski.com.