January 08, 2011 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk racked up another win and has a tight grip on the overall, taking Saturday’s Stage 7 women’s 10km classic mass start in Val di Fiemme in fine form. With superb skiing matched only by Norway’s Therese Johaug (NOR) who finished 2nd, Kowalczyk claimed both 15-second time bonuses and now has a 2-min plus lead over Italy’s Marianna Longa in third today.

The USA’s Kikkan Randall put on a valiant effort finishing 27th on a tough day and is now only one stage away from being the first American woman to finish the 8-stage Tour de Ski.

Conditions deteriorated from the morning. With rain showers and temperatures hovering around zero, nailing the right wax proved tricky, especially for the Americans.

“We had a rough day waxing,” said US head Coach Chris Grover in a USSA press release. “We made a critical last minute error on waxing – there’s no other way to get around it. Kikkan didn’t feel 100% on her game today and we also didn’t hit a home run with her skis,” added Grover. “But that’s the ebb and flow of the Tour. On a given day, people are moving up and moving down. It’s all about managing your energy day to day.”

Kowalczyk opened the race with Slovenia’s Petra Majdic beside her, and they were quickly joined by Johaug, Krista Lahteenmaki of Finland and Longa. Before 1.7km a 10-skier lead pack had already formed.

By 2km, Kowalczyk and Johaug had escaped and opened a 10-second gap on the pack, with Majdic, Lahteenmaki and Longa scrambling to catch up.

At the 3.3km bonus marker, Kowalczyk grabbed 15 bonus seconds ahead of Johaug taking 10. Behind Lahteenmaki was starting to lose time as Saarinen charged through to claim the remaining 5-sec bonus. Longa moved into 4th leaving Majdic, Arianna Follis (ITA) and the others strung out behind.

After securing the first time bonus, Kowalczyk relinquished the lead to Johaug, and the two of them continued to hold their 10-second gap over Saarinen and Longa.

As the racers closed in on the halfway mark, the two leaders were stretching their lead. Saarinen was now 22 seconds back, and Longa 27 down. Lahteenmaki had now dropped to 16th, just ahead of the Charlotte Kalle (SWE) also struggling today in 18th.

Kowalczyk also claimed the 2nd time bonus at 6.6km, with Johaug taking the 10-second bonus for second and Saarinen nabbing 5 seconds again for 3rd.

Just after the bonus marker, Johaug attacked hard, but Kowalczyk covered it well as Longa took over 3rd from Saarinen.

Closing in on the finish, Kowalczyk and Johaug widened their lead to nearly a minute, and prepared to duel for the win. The pace proved too high for Saarinen, who started dropping back through the field.

With 900 meters to go, Kowalczyk attacked and managed to get away from Johaug who was too spent to respond. The move gave Kowalczyk the win, with Johaug in 2nd at 6.3s and Longa in 3rd at 55s as the rest of the pack trickled in.

“Today was another tough one,” Randall told SkiTrax by email.  “I had a great opening 2k, I got right up near the front of the pack.  Then lost a few places coming back down into the stadium.  Lost touch with the pack going into the 2nd lap and the effort really got hard…  I struggled from there.”

After tomorrow’s race, Randall will be the first US woman to complete the demanding Tour. She said it’s been a rewarding experience, but she hopes to see other North American women on the start list with her next season.

“It definitely feels a little lonely and I hope I’m not the only North American woman for long.  This is a sweet experience and it would be cool to have more North American women here in the future.”

While her skis might have stymied Randall’s efforts today, the winner Kowalczyk said it wasn’t a problem for her.

“This was a really good race, my skis were perfect, my shape was also good, and Therese Johaug was perfect,” Kowalczyk said an in interview with FIS XC after the race. “It was really good to work with her, almost like a Polish-Norwegian team work.”

Heading into tomorrow’s final 9km hill climb up Alpe Cermis, Kowalczyk now has a commanding 2:08.3 lead over Longa with Follis is in 3rd, t 2:33.0 down followed by Majdic and Johaug in 4th and 5th. Despite a rough day today, Randall is excited about tomorrow’s race.

“We previewed the course yesterday,” said Randall.  “It’s going to be tough for sure but I think it’s a pretty cool course. It’s the last race and I’m looking forward to attacking it with everything I have left.”

10km Classic results HERE.
Overall Standings HERE.