April 09, 2010 (Inari, Finland) – Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Sami Jauhojärvi won first stage of the Tour de Barents. The Finnish skier was 15.2 seconds ahead of Norway’s Kristine Stoermer Steira, while Pirjo Muranen was only three tenths behind in the third place. The distance was 5 km in classic style. Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg finished eighth.

In the men’s competition over the 10 km Finland occupied first two podium places. First Sami Jauhojärvi finisehd more than one minute ahead of Mikko Koutaniemi. French Jean-Marc Gaillard took the third place, while the overall favorite, Lukas Bauer finished fourth. Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset was best of the Norwegians and finished seventh.

There were several thousand spectators in Vadsø in a great spring weather. Tour continues in Inari, Finland on Thursday, and finishes in Rovaniemi on Saturday and Sunday.

Tour de Barents moved to Finland for the second Stage. It was carried out in Inari with 10/15 km Mass Start Free. Riitta-Liisa Roponen captured victory and secured current lead in the overall standing of the Tour. Kristin Stoermer Steira of Norway finished second having lost on Roponen only 0.2 sec. “I loose on Riitta only 15 seconds in the overall standing and I have not given up. Today’s race was better than yesterday “said Steira. Czech Kamila Rajdlova finished 52 seconds behind the winner and took the third place, while Finland Pirjo Muranen was ranked as fourth.

French Jean-Marc Gaillard won the men’s race over 15 km Free. Slovak Martin Bajcicak took second place and Finnish Lari Lehtonen finished third. Overall lead in the Tour currently belongs to Sami Jauhojärvi.

Results

Stage 1
– Ladies Junior 5km here
– Ladies 5km here
– Men Junior 10km here
– Men 10km here

Stage 2
– Ladies Junior 10km here
– Ladies 10km here
– Men Junior 15km here
– Men 15km here