Lost Russian podium

Tour de Ski champion Alexander Bolshunov achieved success at a distance of 15 km from a mass start.

Bolshunov's advantage began to take shape already at the 4.5 km mark, where bonus sprint points were distributed.

Alexander confidently led the group of those who won intermediate awards (besides the leader, there were five more Russians in it), and in the future he only systematically increased the gap.

The pace of last year's triumphant was so high that the Italian and German competitors quickly stopped claiming not only victory, but also prizes.

Only Dario Cologna from Switzerland and Frenchman Maurice Monifika continued to compete with the five Russians for the right to finish after Bolshunov.

Closer to the finish line, Ivan Yakimushkin, Alexey Chervotkin and Evgeny Belov attempted to spurt.

Having formed a small reserve, they were very close to forming a purely Russian podium at the end of the stage.

But teamwork didn't work out.

Quite the opposite.

A series of attacking maneuvers, carried out by the trio almost before reaching the finish line, led to a blockage of applicants for the podium.

And as a result of the collision, absolutely all representatives of the national team suffered.

Belov and Chervotkin, having fallen on the track, opened the way to the silver Cologne.

Yakimushkin, who rolled out of the track, for some time moved outside the fences - and in order made it difficult for himself the task of winning bronze.

However, the goal was achieved: the advantage over Manifika was 2.4 seconds.

At the same time, it is important to emphasize: Ivan did not interfere with anyone during maneuvers outside the track and did not receive a racing advantage.

That removed all the claims of the French to the result of the Russian.

Et les Russes qui jouent aux auto-tamponneuses dans les derniers mètres et ça fait 4e place pour @manificaventure ... au moins pour l'instant.

# ValMustair # ChaletClub @ Eurosport_FR @ SimonDSantos @ JefDEVAUX # TourDeSki # MassStartpic.twitter.com / oJhGYWD0xQ

- Chalet ❄️ Club (@ ChaletClub2021) January 2, 2021

After two races, Alexander Bolshunov took the lead in the individual competition - 36 minutes 19 seconds.

One second away from him is another Russian Artyom Maltsev.

Swede Oskar Svensson closes the top three.

Stupak won a medal for the second week in a row

Among the 63 athletes entered for the women's mass start were nine Russians, but Anna Zherebyatyeva did not make it to the start.

The girls who remained most of the distance - four circles of 2.5 km each - were in the group of leaders.

In particular, Yulia Stupak, Natalya Nepryaeva and Yana Kirpichenko, having entered the top 10, took bonus sprint points at the 3.3 km mark.

Whereas at the end of half the distance, five domestic athletes were in the head group and did not let go of the pool of leaders, including the Swedish tandem, consisting of Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson, as well as the American Jesse Diggins.

At the beginning of the sixth kilometer, Karlsson, who leads the World Cup youth standings, picked up the pace.

This excluded from the fight Alisa Zhambalova with Tatyana Sorina, who could not answer the speeds proposed by the Scandinavian.

A little earlier, Nepryaeva rolled back to the middle of the peloton, for whom the distance was obviously more difficult than her teammates.

As a result, the list of contenders for victory was reduced to seven athletes.

The medal distribution took place on the last lap, during which day one winner Lynn Swann scored the most.

The last year's sprint World Cup winner carried out an impeccable attack from the depths of the leading group and spent the final meters of the distance from a position of strength, controlling the race.

But for the remaining places on the podium, a serious struggle unfolded: in 0.7 seconds, three athletes crossed the finish line at once.

Stupak turned out to be the most mobile of all, leaving Diggins bronze and depriving Karlsson of awards.

In addition, three more Russians finished in the top 10: Kirpichenko - in seventh position (for her this is the first hit in the elite group), Zhambalova - in eighth, Sorina - in tenth.

“I made a mistake on the last downhill: I got on another track, went alone, caught the gap.

Should still follow Diggins, would have kept in the stream.

And there you could try to work with Swann.

But she is a very strong sprinter, a finisher, ”Stupak commented on her finish on Match TV.

Note that Julia, who returned to the big sport less than a year after the birth of a child, won medals for the second week in a row.

Last weekend, Stupak finished second in the team sprint at the World Cup in Dresden, competing in tandem with Nepryaeva.

In the overall standings of the Tour de Ski, Swann retained the leadership - 32: 42.0.

Next came Diggins (+13.0) and Karlsson (+18.0).

The best Russian woman, Tatyana Sorina (+53.0), is in seventh place.

Also in the top 10 Stupak (+56.0) and Nepryaeva (1: 12.0) - 8th and 9th positions - were fixed.