Unbeatable Dario Cologna wins stage 6 from Cortina to Toblach

Tour de Ski

Fri, Jan  7, 2011 - By FIS

Dario Cologna was unbeatable on the sixth stage of Tour de Ski and won his fifth Tour de Ski stage victory.

Dario Cologna raced the entire stage from Cortina to Toblach by himself in front of the big bunch and managed to keep the others behind him. He increased his gap to the second throughout the 35 km,  could ski alone on the stadium and celebrate his fifth Tour de Ski stage victory. Marcus Hellner (SWE) started 1:14:1 behind Cologna, and 32 seconds behind Devon Kershaw (CAN) but overtook the Canadian right before passing 12.7 km. Hellner kept his position as number two to the end, and came in to the finish line 1:06:03 behind Cologna. Petter Northug (NOR) captured the third position out of a big group, 1:40 behind.

There was never any doubt that Cologna would not win the sixth stage of Tour de Ski. He kept a nice pace and rythm from the very beginning. A few kilometers after Marcus Hellner overtook Devon Kershaw, a group of seven, mostly led my Lukas Bauer (CZE) and Petter Northug (NOR), overtook Kershaw as well. The group managed to decrease the gap to Hellner for for the two next intermediate points, but lost again in the final loop on the stadium. Martin Jaks (CZE) came in fourth, Alex Harvey (CAN) fifth, Curdin Perl (SUI) sixth and Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) seventh.

Alexander Legkov, fifth in the overall Tour de Ski standing before todays race did not start due to illness.

Cologna increase his lead in the overall Tour standing, leading now thanks to the bonus second in the finish by 1:11:3 seconds ahead of Marcus Hellner. Petter Northug, Martin Jaks, Daniel Rickardsson, Curdin Perl, Alex Harvey, Matti Heikkinen and Jean Marc Gaillard are all behind with a  time frame of 1:49:9 to 1:51:1.

In the sprint ranking, Cologna is leading 32 seconds ahead of Marcus Hellner.

Dario Cologna:

"It was very though, as it was a long way alone, I think I had a good speed from the start which was not too fast which gave me enough energy for the last kilometres of downhill. I was really tired when I finished, I had to fight hard. I am of course happy that I have an advantage for the last two stages.

I had to go in my own speed although my coaches told me Lukas Bauer and his group increased their speed. Luckily they lost time again in the end. I think the 20 km in Val di Fiemme will be important with loads of bonus seconds. I will do my best to rest well tomorrow and bring my shape to Val di Fiemme".