January 7, 2010 (Prague, CZE) – Canada’s Alex Harvey had a great race claiming 9th at the 10 km classic individual race in Toblach while Daniel Rickardsson of Sweden scored the best performance of his career dominating Stage 6 of the FIS Tour de Ski. “I’ve never skied as well,” Rickardsson grinned at the finish.

The Swede’s time puts him in the top five of the TdS standings and in contention for the overall podium. Lukas Bauer (CZE) finished second with the time gap of 1.7 sec. while Petter Northug (NOR) was on the Stage 6 podium in third place at 6.2 sec behind Rickardsson.

Harvey lead the Canadian charge coming on strong making the top ten in 9th at 42.4s, a sign that his form is moving up, while team mate Ivan Babikov was 18th today following his stellar performance on Stage 5. Fellow Canucks Devon Kershaw and George Grey were 37th and 44th respectively.

Northug maintains the red bib as the overall Tour de Ski leader with a 20-second margin over Marcus Hellner (SWE) as Axel Teichmann (GER) takes over 3rd, Dario Cologna (SUI) is in 4th, and Rickarddson is in 5th – all within 12 seconds of each other. Babikov is the top Canadian 12th overall.

Friday is the second rest day, before the TdS winds up this coming weekend with the final two stages in Val di Fiemme, ITA, including the NEW final climb.

Men’s press conference Toblach day 2


Men’s 10km classic full results here.
Men’s Overall TdS Standings here.

Results (brief)

Men
1. Daniel Rickardsson (SWE) 23:14.5
2. Lukas Bauer (CZE) +1.7
3. Petter Northug (NOR) +6.2
4. Axel Teichmann (GER) +13.4
5. Marcus Hellner (SWE) +25.5

9. Alex Harvey (CAN) +42.4
18. Ivan Babikov (CAN) +57.7
37. Devon Kershaw (CAN) +1:13.7
44. George Grey (CAN) +1:35.2