March 13, 2016 (Canmore, AB) – Canada’s Alex Harvey finished a valiant fifth in front of a boisterous crowd, as Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) bided his time and then attacked for a decisive victory in the men’s 15km CL Pursuit finale claiming the overall men’s crown at Ski Tour Canada.

Sergey Ustiugov (Rus), who was impressive as Tour leader from the opening stage, settled for second while Petter Northug (Nor) landed third on the podium. Sundby’s stellar season also earned him the overall World Cup title and crystal globe along with the distance crown as well.

Harvey led four teammates into the points on the final stage that saw warm conditions as French star, Maurice Manificat, who had the fastest time of the day, eventually got the better of him to claim fourth. Ivan Babikov finished a solid 14th, Devon Kershaw was 16th, and Graeme Killick finished 27th as Canada was one of three nations to place four or more skiers in the top thirty – Norway had five and Russia six. The top American was Noah Hoffman in 34th.

“It is a long Tour. The body starts to feel fatigue at the midway point,” said Harvey who was 7th overall in the World Cup rankings. “I felt as good as yesterday, but midway through the race I just got really tired. To finish top-five on a long stage tour is by far my best result. This was a great Tour for me.”

As the racing got underway, it seemed Ustiugov wearing the purple leader’s bib had all but locked things up with a 32-second lead over Northug, and 39 seconds over Sundby. But Sundby had another agenda. Working with Northug through the first lap, the Norwegian duo caught Ustiugov part way through the second lap.

Soon after, Sundby made his break and although the Russian bear made a strong effort to claw his way back into the lead, it was Norway’s Sundby who skied his way to an impressive win and the title of first ever Ski Tour Canada champion.

The warm conditions made for slower times all round as Manificat’s best time of 45:54.6 was a far cry from the usual 36 minutes for a 15km race.

“These conditions were so tough and that is exactly how I like it,” said Babikov who delivered another top-15 finish to close out the season. “It was another challenging day today, but I was really happy with my finish. I just kept saying on this Tour to get me to Canmore. I was happy to deliver some good results to end the year.”

Veteran Kershaw, who was just behind commented, “The conditions were viciously bad, so it made for a really long, hard 15km. I was really close to the overall goal so I have to be satisfied. It was just really hard out there.”

Killick echoed the tough conditions, but was happy with his result and and to have finished the Tour. “I was happy with it. I didn’t feel that good at the start so I just tried to conserve as much as I could and survive. I didn’t loose as much time as I thought I would. It was tough but it’s good to be done.”

“For sure we’re disappointed to drop one spot with Alex, but I mean a top five overall is still really good,” commented Canadian Head Coach, Justin Wadsworth, after the races.

Following Hoffman for the U.S. men was Erik Bjornsen in 42nd, Scott Patterson in 46th and Tad Elliott in 51st on the day. Hoffman  was the top-ranked American overall on the World Cup in 32nd.

Although, Harvey felt that he had a “bad body” today, he responded positively telling us, “I have had a lot of bad days in my career, it’s just one of them, there is nothing to worry about, it’s just, that is part of the sport. You can’t be on top every day.”

By all accounts the inaugural Ski Tour Canada was a huge success and the general consensus by skiers and fans is that the Tour should return in the near future – photo gallery below

Results here.
Ski Tour Canada standings here.
World Cup standings here.