For the classic men's mass start, the organizers of the stage in Falun chose a fairly simple track configuration.
There were no exhausting ascents or dangerous descents on it, which the day before led to a serious injury to Natalia Nepryaeva.
At the same time, there was not enough space for skiers - in some places the track was so narrow that it almost led to traffic jams.
These conditions predetermined the nature of the race in advance.
It was simply impossible to create a gap anywhere in the distance, so all the strongest skiers had to keep in the same peloton throughout the entire 15 km.
This played into the hands of the Norwegian Johannes Hösflot Klebo, first of all.
He has not yet gained good shape to fight Alexander Bolshunov, but he had to show sprint qualities.
And for this he just had to run to the finish line behind the back of the World Cup leader.
At the same time, everyone still had to try to avoid blockages, and their probability was quite high, including due to the fact that all the favorites were locked in the general group, and it was easier for outsiders to stay in it.
This gloomy prediction came true at the very beginning of the race, and the Russian team suffered the first loss.
Andrey Larkov hesitated in the middle of the peloton and fell about one and a half kilometers from the start.
He broke a stick and fell behind so much that he never returned to the fight.
The main group, however, diligently overcame the long descents, hoping not to repeat his fate.
Although serious breaks in the race were not expected, no one canceled the drawing of bonus points.
Finn Iivo Niskanen jumped ahead at the mark of 5.8 km, followed by Bolshunov, Ivan Yakimushkin and Ilya Poroshkin, who replaced the injured Alexander Chervotkin.
Klebo ran right after the Russians, not sitting behind his partners, among whom there was no Friday cut-up silver medalist Simen Kruger - in the classical style, he is not the most prominent specialist.
The next three kilometers the peloton passed without incident, when suddenly another massive fall happened on the descent.
His victims were Bolshunov, Poroshkin and the Norwegian Hans Holund.
The owner of the yellow jersey dropped immediately to 38th place, and was nine seconds behind the leader of the group, Semikov.
In such a situation, it was extremely difficult not only to count on medals, but simply to catch up with the leaders.
Holund, by the way, did not even make this attempt - after a while he dropped out of the race.
But Bolshunov performed a real miracle.
In just two kilometers, he was able to again find himself next to Semikov, Yakimushkin and Paul Golberg, who were trying to disperse the group.
Bolshunov had to catch up with rivals on a narrow section of the track, where all the tracks were occupied, but he ran along the snowy shoulder and still returned to his position right for another drawing of bonus points.
There were still four kilometers to the finish line, and Bolshunov had to find the right moment to still break free from the shackles of the peloton and avoid a showdown with Klebo.
The Norwegian, sensing this, moved closer to the Russian, for whom Golberg continued to be on duty.
The moment for the attack came more than a kilometer before the end of the race.
Although there were no serious climbs in this part of the distance, Bolshunov still had to take risks.
Golberg immediately rushed after him, and a little later Klebo accelerated.
On the slopes, the Norwegians won back a split second from the Russian, but when there was an opportunity to move forward due to his work on the track, Bolshunov certainly used it.
As a result, Klebo could not be behind the Russian and approached the finish line with a slight lag.
All three skiers powerfully accelerated in the last meters of the distance, and Bolshunov nevertheless became the winner of this bout.
Klebo managed to bypass Golberg and won silver.
The Russian and the two Norwegians were separated by only 0.4 seconds.
Bolshunov celebrated his fifth victory in Falun, and in his entire career he won 26 races in the World Cup - according to this indicator, he caught up with the Swiss Dario Cologna in seventh place in the entire history of the competition.
The Russian will also wear the yellow jersey of the World Cup leader until the end of the season thanks to the huge pool of points earned.
In addition to the fantastic victory of Bolshunov, Sergey Ustyugov's performance was also worth highlighting in this race.
The two-time world champion is gradually gaining shape and demonstrating progressive dynamics.
In the mass start, he finished seventh, beating Semikov and Yakimushkin.
This strengthening of the national team before the World Cup in Oberstdorf, which is less than a month away, will be very useful.