Best of comments on the Tour de Ski

Sat, Jan  12, 2008 - By FIS

Lukas Bauer (CZE), Tour winner:
Tour de Ski was very hard for me but I guess it was the same for everybody. The final stage was crazy, but maybe it was just as well that I had no experience from previous season.
Rene Sommerfeldt (GER)

Lukas was training with us last season. The training was very different from what he was used to but now he is collecting the fruits of this hard labor.

Petter Northug (NOR), Sprint ranking winner:
I like this competition style and I like TDS. I think this amount of races are enough I think we all now feel that we have had two hard weekends, now I’m looking forward to some days of rest. For me it doesn’t matter if its 6 or 8 races, but I prefer 8 races.

Vegard Ulvang (NOR, Chairman of the FIS Cross-Country Committee):
I am very happy overall. We saw many good races and very good sport. As the President of the International Ski Federation said last night, last year, the Tour was a baby. It is a one-year-old child now. All children learn something new all the time and we, too, will continue to work and develop the Tour.

Juerg Capol, FIS Race Director Cross-Country:
One of the main goals for the Tour de Ski was to create interest for the sport of Cross-Country Skiing. And that we have achieved! In terms of the number of TV viewers and number of media on site, the Tour is a totally different story from the regular World Cup races. This is the 2nd year of the Tour and we can say it has established its own character, it has found its space on the calendar and delivers a strong image. This year, too, we could create a good story that developed Stage after Stage.

Charlotte Kalla (on New Year’s Day):
Yesterday evening we had a singing competition (Sing star) at the hotel – Sweden against Norway. For sure Sweden won!

Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, NOR (before the first Pursuit race with handicap start):
I liked this race, in the intermediate time I was a few seconds ahead of the others, but they were very strong in the end. Tomorrow’s race will be good for me, I’m a good hunter (smile).

 

Overall Results ladies
1. Charlotte Kalla, SWE
2. Virpi Kuitunen, FIN + 36,4 seconds
3. Arianna Follis, ITA + 53,3 seconds

Overall Results men
1. Lukas Bauer, CZE
2. René Sommerfeldt, GER + 2:47,3 minutes
3. Giorgio Di Centa, ITA + 2:47,6,2 minutes

Sprint Ranking ladies
1. Virpi Kuitunen, FIN 2:36
2. Arianna Follis, ITA 1:49
3. Pirjo Muranen, FIN 1:46

Sprint ranking men
1. Petter Northug, NOR 1:44
2. Tor Arne Hetland, NOR 1:44
3. Giorgio Di Centa, ITA 1:36

Tour team standing
1. Norway
2. Russia + 4:21,2 minutes
3. Italy + 6:07,0 minutes

Results last Stage ladies (Final Climb)
1. Valentina Shevchenko, URK
2. Kristin Steira, NOR
3. Claudia Nystad, GER

Results last Stage men (Final Climb)
1. René Sommerfeldt, GER
2. Christian Hoffmann, AUT
3. Martin Bajcicak, SVK

Overall World Cup ranking ladies:
1. Charlotte Kalla, SWE 795 points
2. Virpi Kuitunen, FIN 669 points
3. Arianna Follis, ITA 601 points

Overall World Cup ranking men:
1. Lukas Bauer, CZE 816 points
2. Tor Arne Hetland, NOR 515 points
3. René Sommerfeldt, GER 514 points

Prize Money List (total World Cup with Tour de Ski),
Ladies:
Charlotte Kalla, SWE 180.250 CHF
Virpi Kuitunen, FIN 141.250 CHF
Arianna Follis, ITA 69.000 CHF

Men:
Lukas Bauer, CZE 194.500 CHF
René Sommerfeldt, GER 109.000 CHF
Giorgio Di Centa, ITA 55.250 CHF

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