January 07, 2012 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Canada’s Alex Harvey charged to second place on Saturday with teammate Devon Kershaw claiming 6th as the two Canucks put on a fabulous show of skiing in Val di Fiemme on Stage 8 at the Tour de Ski in the men’s 20km CL won by Norway’s Eldar Roenning.

Tour leader, Dario Cologna (SUI), took third as he grabbed more bonus seconds on his way to edging out his Norwegian rival, Petter Northug, by one point for the TdS Sprint title (56 to 55). Northug finished fourth on the day.

With five bonus opportunities during today’s 20km race the strategies were key to overall placement and Harvey and Kershaw, who skiied strong near the front for the whole race, conserved energy this time allowing others to push for the top bonus spots. Both still earned valuable seconds as they raced smart near the front, but Harvey was in top form as he nailed Canada’s first (men’s) WCup podium this year claiming the silver and moved up three spots to 6th overall.

“My skis were just so good and I knew coming in the final downhill when I started double poling that I had a chance at the podium,” said Harvey. “I’ve had up and down stages at the Tour so far but today everything came together. I didn’t hold anything back.

“Tomorrow is a tough stage. I start after Lukas Bauer (CZE) a good climber so I won’t try to help him catch Devon who starts ahead of us. If I feel good I’ll try to pass him on the flats but realistically there’s a lot of good skiers ahead of me that have to all be suffering for me to make the final podium.”

Kershaw had a stellar day as well finishing sixth and remains fourth overall as Sweden’s Marcus Hellner took over third from Russia’s Alexander Legkov who struggled with his skis today and fell back into 8th overall. Kershaw earned 23 bonus points today but Hellner was able to eke out 29 and just slip past the man from Sudbury by only 0.1s – so Kershaw is within striking distance of the final podium spot.

“The body felt good today and I tried to earn as many bonus seconds as possible and still be strong at the end. We got lucky with Legkov and Manficat dropping back and had a great result with Alex on the podium.

“For sure I’m up for tomorrow – this race means the world to me and it’s been a huge goal especially with no world championships this year – we’ll see how the legs feel. Hellner who is just ahead of me has done well here in the past. It’s a tough stage but it’s tough for everyone and we’ve trained hard for this.”

Cologna looks untouchable for his third TdS overall with 1:12 over Northug unless something unexpected happens which is unlikely given his experience having won two Tours. The real battle is for third with one monster 9km climb up Alpe Cermis left to decide the final podium as the 6th annual Tour de Ski wraps up on Sunday.

Men’s 20km results HERE.
Men’s 20km results detail HERE.
Men’s TdS Sprint Overall HERE.
Men’s TdS Overall HERE.