January 03, 2017 (Oberstdorf, GER) – Canada’s Alex Harvey was just off the podium in 4th while Devon Kershaw claimed a strong 10th in the men’s 20km Skiathlon for a superb start to the new year at Stage 3 of Tour de Ski held in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Sergey Ustiugov (RUS) won his third straight leg besting Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby again while Switzerland’s Dario Cologna took third edging out Harvey for the final spot on the men’s podium.

“It was my best result of the season so I’m really happy,” said Harvey, who has been edging closer to his first podium of the year while consistently placing in the top-10 over the last month. “Things played out exactly according to plan. I had really good skis again and the body felt good. After watching the girls, I knew it would be a tight race. I really thought I was going to be on the podium today, but in the end I came up a little short.”

This was Kershaw’s best race in over two years. “It was just an excellent day for me. I woke up and I felt really good. I felt amazing in the warm up and all of my classic skis I tested felt really good. I took a lot of confidence in that while climbing the steep hill, and it just continued throughout the race,” said the Sudbury skier who finished fourth overall at the 2012 Tour de Ski.

Racing near the front of a tight pack, Harvey’s goal was to remain in the hunt for a daily podium, while also capturing precious bonus times available in two intermediate sprint sections set up throughout the course. Harvey made a charge for the podium heading up the final punishing climb, but ran out of steam while cresting the hill for the sprint finish.

“I knew with a tight pack I could go for the bonus seconds. I won the first sprint and was third in the second one so that gave me some extra time in the overall,” said Harvey, who remains third overall. “I hit the base of the hill in fourth and passed the French skier, but then Ustiugov was stronger than everyone and I dropped back into fourth.”

Ustiugov now has three back-to-back wins at the Tour. “It was a really hard race today. I gave my best. On the last climb I felt the pace went down and I decided to attack. It was not planned. I reacted on the situation,” said the race leader.

Kershaw, who is known for his classic skiing, put on a clinic in the opening 10km leg where he bolted to the front of the pack, and led the final 2.5-kilometres into the exchange zone.

“That was some of the best I’ve felt in classic-skiing in my career. I have been feeling good in classic all year. It’s weird though. I feel I have been slightly on the wrong side of things and today I was able to ski at the top and also hold my own in the skate.

“The guys (wax techs) gave me excellent equipment as they have all year and I’m just incredibly satisfied. It feels that extra little bit special since it has been a while for me. This gives me a lot of confidence to know that I can still ski with the best in the world and be back on the podium,” added Kershaw who is now 20th overall.

American Noah Hoffman was 35th, Canada’s Len Valjas finished 37th, Graeme Killick (Can) was 50th and Erik Bjornsen (USA) placed 53rd.

Results here.
Overall here.