After the final cancellation of the three-day World Cup final in cross-country skiing, which was originally planned to be held in Beijing and then in Lillehammer, the stage in the Swiss Engadine became the last competition of the season.
Its program included mass starts for 15 and 10 km, which were supposed to form the starting protocols of Sunday's pursuit races for marathon distances.
On the one hand, the last races in the Alps were no longer of great importance in terms of summing up the results of the season.
Alexander Bolshunov won the Big Crystal Globe for the second time in a row and staked out the title of the best distance skier, and the Italian Federico Pellegrino got the title of the strongest sprinter.
But on the other hand, less than a week has passed since the World Championship, which ended with one of the most ambitious scandals in the history of cross-country skiing.
After what happened between Bolshunov and the Norwegian Johannes Klebo, many fans were waiting for their new meeting on the track.
In addition, the final starts made it possible for the Russian to establish a number of achievements.
First, he could become the third skier in history to win double-digit wins in a season.
Secondly, to swing at the incredible record of the Norwegian Martin Junsrud Sundby, who won the overall standings in 2016 with a margin of 1032 points from the nearest pursuer.
Before coming to Engadin, Bolshunov won 839 points over Ivan Yakimushkin, and thanks to the large number of intermediate finishes that are planned in the races, he can well count on success.
But for this he had to at least start the final stage of the season with a victory.
The beginning of the 15 km mass start in the classical style was not easy for Bolshunov.
For the first couple of kilometers, he was squeezed in the middle of the peloton and could not get out of it.
The Norwegian Hans Holund tried to take advantage of the Russian's hitch and organized an attack.
True, very short-lived.
Already at the 3.8 km mark, the group overtook the fugitive, and this was done by his own compatriots.
There were no Russians in the top ten for a long time, until Alexei Chervotkin decided to break away from the peloton.
Just like in a relay race, he easily broke away from his rivals and began to work alone at a distance.
Still, Holund kept up the pace of the leader and caught hold of him.
The Norwegian Daniel Stok hovered between them and the peloton.
Gradually, the race was approaching the only drawing of bonus points, and then Bolshunov began to accelerate.
Finn Iivo Niskanen and several Norwegian skiers followed him.
The gap was easily eliminated, but for the Russian again the prospect of being alone against foreign rivals began to emerge - Chervotkin was no longer fresh after the attack, Evgeny Belov broke his stick and rolled far back, and Artyom Maltsev tried to break out of the peloton.
Bolshunov, just before the mass start, said that it was not possible to use command tactics against the Norwegians, because other Russians did not reach the finish line with him, and again he was right.
Together with Bolshunov, Klebo decided to accelerate before the 10-kilometer mark.
They passed the bonus mark together, but still 15 points in the overall standings of the World Cup went to the Norwegian, and the Russian - only 12. Usually, after the intermediate finish, the skiers slow down, but Bolshunov and Klebo walked another one and a half kilometers together with a small margin from their pursuers, among which still remained Chervotkin and Maltsev.
Suddenly, during a long climb, Bolshunov began to attack Klebo and quickly got rid of him.
Literally out of the blue, he created himself a 25-second gap, to which the peloton did not know how to react.
Only on the last kilometer, the rivals decided that it was impossible to let Bolshunov go so calmly, and got down to work, but the Russian was warned in time about their acceleration.
He endured to the finish line and won 18 seconds against Klebo and Paul Golberg, who became the winners of this race.
Bolshunov won his tenth personal victory of the season - only Sundby and Klebo have achieved this in the past.
During his career, he won 27 races in the World Cup and, according to this indicator, came out on a clean seventh place, beating the Swiss Dario Cologna.
Since Yakimushkin took only 25th place in the mass start, Bolshunov increased the lead from him to 945 points.
On Sunday, Bolshunov will start 18 seconds earlier than the Norwegians, but this is unlikely to give him a tangible advantage.
He will be left alone at the very beginning of the 50-kilometer distance, and his closest partner Maltsev will be 24 seconds away.
Bolshunov will have to run in even more difficult conditions than during the marathon at the World Championships, while Klebo will start in the company of his compatriots.
Bolshunov's victorious finish in the 15 km race is a classic - no rivals are visible even on the horizon.
Alexander took a confident revenge from Klebo 🤘🏻🇷🇺😏 pic.twitter.com/PCR8ZHfNlG
- Eurosport.ru (@Eurosport_RU) March 13, 2021