January 11, 2010 (Barrie, ON) – Well, the Tour de Ski is over, the snow has settled and weary skiers are making their way home. After eight races over10 days they’re all looking for a massage and a good night’s sleep in their own beds. What a final two days of skiing by Lucas Bauer (CZE)! The winner of the Tour de Ski two years ago has been battling illness and nerves last season and at the start of this season, and had fallen as low as 60th place on the World Cup standings after Rogla (SLO), the last race before Xmas.

He started out slowly in the Tour but dominated everyone in the last two stages in Val di Fiemme. He pulled away from the field in the mass start 20km classic race on Saturday to get within 10 seconds of Petter Northug (NOR) in the overall standings. And then he destroyed Northug and the rest of the field going up Cermis on the final day’s hill climb winning the overall by over a minute.

Northug hung on for 2nd with 2009 TdS winner Dario Cologna (SUI) finishing in 3rd. Northug proved that he’s human after all. Of course neither race came down to a sprint at the finish. This is what the other male skiers have to do to beat him – make a break and stay away. Easier said than done, of course, but I think it’s the only way to beat him.

Cologna is proving that his Tour de Ski and overall World Cup wins from last year were no fluke. He is a great all-round skier who is also starting to round into form.

The Canadian men finished the Tour very strongly with Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey and Ivan Babikov all posting top 10 finishes during the last week. Babikov proved once again that he is one of the toughest skiers in the world by posting the 4th fastest time on the hill climb on the last day (less than 3 seconds from the fastest time) to move into 9th place overall at the end of the tour.

Kershaw finished in 16th and Harvey finished in 21st. I think that they’ve answered the questions about whether or not they can compete for medals at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Now if George Grey can continue to improve they’ll also have a legitimate shot at a relay medal.

For the women, Justina Kowalczyk (POL) proved once again that she’s the fittest woman on cross-country skis. She started 33 seconds behind Petra Majdic from Slovenia on the final day hill climb and was still 26 seconds behind at the bottom of the Cermis climb. She ended up winning by 19 seconds over an exhausted Majdic. The fastest time of the day for women went to Kristin Stormer Steira from Norway who ended up in 5th place overall. Steira proved that she’s the best climber in the world for women, but that may not help her on the flatter courses at the Games in the Callaghan Valley.

Canada’s Sara Renner skied consistently throughout the Tour to finish in 17th place. She slowly continues to improve and should gain a lot of confidence from these races. She’s shown in the past that she loves to race at home and should perform even better at the World Cups in Canmore in early February and at the 2010 Olympics.

Having said all that, it is difficult to make any predictions for the Olympics from the results of the Tour. Sure, the top skiers are starting to shine and most of them should continue to be on top. However, the Tour is very hard, physically and mentally, and there will be some who get sick and cannot recover in time for mid-February. This is why skiers like Marit Bjoergen (NOR) did not partake and why Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) and many others did not finish. They know how hard it is to recover from the Tour and do not want to take any chances on not being ready for the Olympics.

Over the next two weekends the World Cup continues in Otepaa, Estonia (Jan. 16-17) and then Rybinsk, Russia (Jan. 22-24). Look for some of these skiers who either did not compete at the Tour or who left early to be back racing strong. The Canadians and Americans will be back at home resting and training to get ready for the World Cups in Canmore and then the 2010 Olympics. Athletes from both countries are anxiously awaiting the naming of their Olympic teams which should happen in the next couple of weeks.