Tour de Ski: 9 days to the start
Thu, Dec 20, 2007 - By Tour de Ski
The second edition of the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear will start in just 8 days now, on 28th December. 10 days, 8 races, 4 venues in two countries – that will be the Tour de Ski 2007/2008.
The start will be in Nove Mesto na Morave (CZE) on 28th and 29th December with the prologue in the classical technique and a handicap start race (that means that the athletes start with the time difference from the first Stage) with 10 km (women) and 15 km (men) in the free technique. The first sprint will be take place in Prague (CZE) on 30th of December. This will be the first ever World Cup competition in Cross-Country in the capital of the Czech Republic. After the cancellation of Oberstdorf, Nove Mesto na Morave took over the competitions of Oberstdorf and will now also host the fourth and fifth Tour de Ski Stages. In the program are a handicap start race 10 km (women) and 15 km (men) in the free technique on New Year's Day, and an interval start race 10 km (women) and 15 km (men) in the classical technique on 2nd January. After a rest day, the Tour will continue in Asiago (ITA) on the golf course with a sprint race in free technique on 4th of January.
The last venue will be in the valley of ‘Fiemme', the host of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 2003. On 5th January 2008, the athletes will compete in a mass start race over 10 km (ladies) and 20 km (men) in the classical technique. The last competition on 6th January, the already famous ‘Final Climb,' will start in the Cross-Country Stadium Lago di Tesero and end on Alpe Cermis, with the last climb stretching over 3.7 km with an altitude climb of 425m. The ladies will race 9 km and the men 10 km in the free technique.
The snow conditions in Nove Mesto na Morave are good. They have about 20 cm of natural snow and were able to produce enough snow to host all the competitions in the last several days. The Sprint venue Prague is also ready! The Italian venues Asiago and Val di Fiemme recently had a cold weather period, too, and produced - and will continue to produce - artificial snow for the second edition of the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear. We are ready- come and join us at the Tour 2007/2008!
More information: www.tour-de-ski.com
Starting times & program: click here
Top three last season
Tour de Ski ranking ladies:
Overall Result ladies
1. Virpi Kuitunen (FIN)
2. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) + 1.17,5
3. Valentina Shevchenko (UKR) + 1,20,8
Tour Sprint Ranking
1. Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) 130 seconds
2. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) 105 seconds
3. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN) 77 seconds
Tour de Ski ranking men
Overall Result men
1. Tobias Angerer (GER)
2. Alexander Legkov (RUS) + 46,4 seconds
3. Simen Oestensen (NOR) + 50,2 seconds
Tour Sprint ranking
1. Tor Arne Hetland (NOR) 73 seconds
2. Thobias Fredriksson (SWE) 68 seconds
3. Simen Oestensen (NOR) 59 seconds