January 06, 2017 (Toblach, ITA) – Canada’s Alex Harvey finished 11th in the men’s 10km FR individual start on Stage 5 at the Tour de Ski and slipped to 4th overall as Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov racked up an unprecedented fifth straight stage win.

Maurice Manificat, of France, was second at 21:48.3, while Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krueger locked up the final spot on the podium with a time of 22:04.5.

The USA’s Noah Hoffman had a solid day finishing in the points in 25th with Erik Bjornsen just outside the top thirty in 31st. Canada’s Devon Kershaw was just behind in 32nd followed by Graeme Killick in 35th.

It was 28-year-old Harvey’s best result on the unique Toblach course. “We shouldn’t be greedy. He is consistently right there every day, and this 10-kilometre race was very quick with the podium under 21 minutes. Alex missed a little speed today, but the skis were good and he is still feeling good,” said Canadian coach Babikov.

“Alex just keeps delivering and it is really impressive to watch,” added Babikov. “This was his toughest day on the Tour, yet it was his best ever skate result here in Toblach. Of course we are hungry for more, and tomorrow is going to be a really good race.”

Ustiugov appears to be skiing away with the title. No male athlete had won more than four stages in the previous 10 editions of the Tour de Ski and today’s win in the 10km free technique was also his first ever win in an individual start competition on World Cup.

Simen Hegstad Krueger of Norway recorded his first ever World Cup podium with a third place finish +16.6 seconds behind Ustiugov. Krueger took third place away from Finland’s Matti Heikkinen but just 0.7 seconds.

Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby struggled on today’s stage and finished 14th place losing valuable time to Ustiugov in the overall standings. He remains in second place but is now 1:34 back while Switzerland’s Dario Cologna moved up to third overall bumping Harvey to 4th.

Results here.
Overall here.