December 31, 2010 (Oberhof, Germany) – Marcus Hellner (SWE) grabbed the victory in the men’s Prologue at the 2010/11 FIS Tour de Ski, coming from behind in the 3.75km freestyle race to overtake second place finisher Alexei Petukhov (RUS) in the final half of the competition and gaining 2s over his closest rival.

Last year’s Prologue winner, Petter Northug (NOR), also had a strong race finishing third only 2.9s behind Hellner who snared the coveted red TdS leader’s bib, which he will don tomorrow for the 15km Classic Pursuit where he’ll start seven seconds ahead of Pethukov and 12.9 seconds ahead of Northug.  In the TdS sprint ranking, Hellner collected 15 points, while Pethukov earned 10 points and Northug 5 points.

Loris Frasnelli from Italy posted a blistering 7:39.6 with the best split time (1.4km) of 3:08 that held for much of the race. Jesper Modin (SWE) bested him with a 3:06 but could not match the second half speed. Northug was 3:09 at the split but turned on the jets to  take over the lead with a 7:37.4.

Then Pethukov blasted through the course with the best split time of the day at 3:04 throwing down the gauntlet with a time of 7:36.5. Down four seconds at the 1.4km mark Hellner showed his strength in the second half taking charge of the day with a stellar final time of 7:34.5.

Neither Dario Cologna (SUI) or Alexander Legkov (RUS) could unseat Hellner while Russian Maxim Vylegzhanin, who recently beat Northug at the Davos 30km and was slated to follow Hellner today, did not start due to high hemoglobin blood levels considered unsafe – he and three other athletes were pulled for this reason and are out of the Tour.

“The red color is good, but I like the black one better. It was a good race, and I feel like I am in better shape than the last week before Christmas,” Hellner told FIS XC.

After a rocky start to the season, Northug looks to be back on track: “It was a good race, I had a good feeling. I feel my shape is good now and I look forward to continuing the Tour. I started hard today but felt that I could continue throughout the race. I’ve trained a lot during the beginning of December and over Christmas I relaxed, but I’m in a good shape now,” said Northug.

USA’s Andy Newell logged the top North American finish in 14th place – his best start to the Tour and his best ever prologue finish. He was followed by Canada’s Alex Harvey in 18th. Devon Kershaw (Can) was 37th, Ivan Babikov (Can) finished 45th, and Kris Freeman (USA) was 55th.

“The courses were in great condition and the track was tough with a lot of climbing but the snow was also fast with typical Oberhof fog in the air,” said Newell. “I feel good about my start to the tour. The prologue is always a tough distance and this was my best result ever. I’m just glad to be in a decent position for tomorrow’s 15km classic. It’s going to to crazy so hopefully with a good start number I can stay out of trouble.”

“It was a great start for both Kikkan and Andy. It’s Andy’s best distance race for sure – granted a short distance race – but just super result,” commented US coach Pete Vordenberg.

For 22-year-old Harvey it was also a decent beginning to this year’s TdS.  “It is a solid start, but nothing stellar.” said Harvey. “The prologue is tricky. You can’t go all out from the start. I didn’t feel amazing so it was nice to get into the top-20 and know that I have more to give.

“The prologue is also a good way to shake up the legs,” he added. “The real racing starts tomorrow in the 15-kilometre pursuit. We want to push hard everyday, but you have to look at the overall picture and the distance races will be critical to our success.”

Men’s Prologue results HERE.