January 01, 2018 (Lenzerheide, Sui) – Canada’s Alex Harvey stormed to a strong 4th-place finish in the men’s 15km FR Pursuit on Stage 3 at the Tour de Ski and is back in podium contention as Dario Cologna (Sui) took the win over Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov and the leader’s jersey as well.

Alexander Bolshunov (Rus) held onto third place as Harvey charged to the line with his chase group for a stellar day to move up from 9th overall into fourth as the Tour sees it’s first rest day tomorrow.

“It was good to bounce back after a disappointing day yesterday,” said Harvey, who was seventh and 20th in the first two stages. “The snow was quite slow on the climbs and it was a battle the whole way. Everyone was forced to work hard today. It was great to move up the rankings and come close to third.”

American Erik Bjornsen had a strong day as well finishing 22nd and is having his best Tour yet no doubt inspired by his sister Sadie’s great results and the US team overall. “To have a podium every day of the Tour is pretty exciting,” said Bjornsen.

Cologna, a three-time Tour de Ski winner, caught and passed Ustiugov at around the 4km mark and never looked back distancing himself by a 17.6-second margin at the finish and now has a  22.6-second overall lead with bonuses.

“I was little bit surprised. It was not planned to ski away in the second lap. When Sergey got tired I just went. The crowd was amazing and it helped me a lot in the last lap when I got tired,” commented Cologna.

Harvey and Sundby pushed the pace in a fight for the medals with two kilometres remaining, but ran out of real estate to claim a medal in the sprint finish.

“I started 14 seconds behind (Martin) Sundby so my first goal was to catch him which I was able to do at about 3 kilometres into the race. I knew he would be working hard to chase for the top three. I feel like the first three stages were a success and I’m right where I want to be,” said Harvey.

“The body is a bit tired now. It will be good to get a rest day tomorrow, and nice to get back to sea level. We are very close to Davos where it has been challenging for me skiing at altitude so I’m glad to have those first three stages done and in good position,” he added.

Results here.
Standings here.