December 11, 2010 (Davos, Switzerland) – Canada’s Devon Kershaw had another great day on snow leading the North American men with a 9th place finish in the men’s 15km classic individual start as Kazakstan’s Alexey Poltaranin was the surprise winner on Saturday in Davos to claim his first world cup win. It was a tight race as only six seconds separated the top five finishers with Kershaw 21s behind the winning time of 40:03.5.

American Kris Freeman was on pace but blew up in the last 4km to finish 23rd while Canada’s George Grey regained his form and was just out of the points in 32nd. Fellow Canuck Ivan Babikov, a late arrival in Davos, was 38th, followed by Stefan Kuhn in 67th, and Calgary’s Brent McMurtry in 75th. American Noah Hoffman placed 69th also having a tough day on his first crack at the grueling Davos course.

The 23-year-old Poltaranin had the 10th best time at the 1.6 km mark and increased his speed steadily remaining in the top 3 by mid-race holding off challenges by Russia’s Maxim Vylegzahnin who faded on the final leg and world cup leader, Alexander Legkov (RUS), who had the best intermediate time but lost it on the final leg losing to Poltaranin by 0.9s.

“Today I claimed my first World Cup victory and had my best race ever. I felt strong and my skis were very good as well. I did not change my summer training too much. My coach and I focused more on classic technique and also introduced some new elements to my training. On Monday we head to La Clusaz [France] where I would like to have a good result in 30km race,” said Poltaranin.

Lukas Bauer (Cze) surged in the latter part of the classic race to claim third edging out local Swiss star Dario Cologna by a mere 0.2s. Norway’s Petter Northug, at his first World Cup this season, was as high as 5th but faded near the end to finish 13th.

While the snow had stopped for the start of the men’s race, and the course was re-groomed following the women’s event earlier in the day, it was still a challenging day for the wax technicians with temperatures just below zero (-1C) on new snow. Canada’s Kershaw had nothing but praise for the Canadian wax crew.

“It was an interesting day in Davos – as the 50 or so centimeters of snow that fell over the past two + days made for some stressful times,” said Kershaw. “Yet, the course directors here in Davos are used to dealing with huge Swiss Alp dumps, and they did a great job getting the course ready – they even re-groomed directly after the women’s race – which helped things out for sure.”

“Our Canadian technicians did another outstanding job – staying calm and delivered the goods to get the job done,” he continued. “I can’t imagine that today was easy for them. They crank out such big hours working tirelessly for us, it’s really outstanding. Yves [Bilodeau head wax technician] is all heart and believes so much in Canadian skiing. And the tech I work with closely [Micke Book] is just such an outstanding guy as are all the guys – Joel K, Joel J. Jonathan, Peter Thor – none of us would be anywhere without their help.”

Kershaw had moved up to 15th by the 5km mark and made steady advances to sit in 10th by the 11.6km interval and still had something in the tank to take him to the finishline.

“Devon executed as planned and had energy at the end for a final kick,” commented Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth. “He trained well in Livigno [Italy] and rested up before race day knowing the altitude and tough course. Conditions were crazy for waxing – people were trying zeros and hairies – and it looks like we hit the mark.”

The USA’s Freeman, who was just getting over a cold, was not far behind Kershaw but his tank ran dry after being passed by Vylegzahnin as he tried to stay with him. “It was a tough day for waxing but my skis were good and the course was mostly ok as they groomed it after the women’s race,” said Freeman.

“I was pacing well until Vylegzahnin passed me and I tried to match his speed but that did me in – with 4km to go I blew up and was pushing hard just to stay in the top 30. I caught a cold just after Kuusamo and yesterday was my first intensity training so it was tough to find my top gear today.” Freeman was confident he could have made the top 20 and will race the skate sprints on Sunday.

We caught up with Ivan Babikov who had his best race so far yet still falling short of what he’s capable of. “So far today was the best race  this season for me. Not exactly were I’d like to be but there more races ahead,” explained Babikov. “The conditions were tricky, especially for kick wax, but I think our wax techs did a very good job.”

“Davos is a very hard course with a lot of double polling, and I’m never good at that. Overall I think the team did pretty good. Devon had a very good one, 9th, and George [Gray] was only one second out of the points – we’re looking forward to La Clusaz.”

The USA’s Hoffman is taking his World Cup experience in stride, “It was just a tough day all together. I’m really struggling with my classic skiing right now, and didn’t show any improvement today. I’m a little disappointed – the conditions were tough but our coaches and techs did a great job with our skis. I’m looking forward to next week.”

US head coach Chris Grover knows his crew was disappointed but also knows they’re resilient. “Bird was doing well but lost it near the end still he held his composure and ended up with an average result. Noah had a tough day in difficult conditions with a couple of crashes and struggled to find his rhythm but he’s learning and gaining the experience he needs to move up. Andy [Newell] skipped today’s sufferfest to prepare for Sunday’s sprints which should be good for him and Kikkan.”

The stage is now set for Sunday’s freestyle sprints and the forecast is for colder weather… stay tuned for more coverage.

Full results HERE.