January 03, 2016 (Lenzerheide, SUI) – The formidable Tour de Ski is taking its toll after three stages as Canada’s Alex Harvey leads the North Americans in 9th overall heading into the first rest day. Defending champ, Norwegian Martin Johnsrud Sundby, has set an unmatchable pace and now has a commanding lead of 1:30.2 in the standings.

(l-r) Cologna, Harvey, Belov © Nordic Focus

In second is his teammate, legendary Petter Northug, while Finn Haagen Krogh completed the Norwegian sweep of the podium for the second straight day by edging out Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov in a photo finish for third.

Noah Hoffman led the U.S. men with a solid 25th place finish, matching the American’s 2014 overall result which he hopes to better this year, while his teammate Erik Bjornsen sits 33rd overall at his debut Tour.

“It was really tough today,” said Harvey, 27, who started today in seventh. “I didn’t feel like I recovered from yesterday’s 30 kilometre race. I had a bad night of sleep and just didn’t feel good when I woke up. This was the hardest race of the year for me for sure. Given that, this is a good result.”

Men's podium © Nordic Focus

Lenzerheide featured superb weather as Sunby turned the screw again taking no prisoners on his way to victory. Harvey was in a group of four skiers chasing and ended up slipping back a couple of spots to 9th at the finish.

“I just tried to stay with the group today,” said Harvey. “You have to stay strong physically and mentally. Usually the long 35 kilometre stage is later in the Tour, but this time things get tougher early on. Recovery is important, but staying fit mentally is even more important. There are parts on the course like today where you just have to hang on.

“The good thing is I’m closer in time to the top-three than I was when the day started. It will be good to have a rest day tomorrow. I’m going to make the most out of that, and be ready for the sprint on Tuesday which will be important to do well,” he added.

Ivan Babikov skied to 37th while Devon Kershaw posted a 41st-place result with Len Valjas 68th and Americans Simi Hamilton, 69th and Andy Newell 76th respectively.

“The Tour to this point is going okay. Alex skied a really good race today for not feeling well. The top-three is still very much in his sights, but he knows how critical it will be to qualify in the sprint on Tuesday so he will be going all out. Lenny is also looking forward to Tuesday,” said Justin Wadsworth, head coach, National Ski Team. “Devon rebounded nicely today, and his fitness is good so I know he’ll put his focus on some daily podiums.”

Results here
Overall TdS standings here.