December 20, 2011 (Oberhof, Germany) – With Period 1 of the World Cup season wrapping up in Rogla this past weekend, all eyes in the world of competitive cross-country skiing are focused on the Tour de Ski, now in its 6th year, which begins December 29th in Oberhof, Germany and concludes January 8th in Val di Fiemme, Italy.  This year’s event features 9 stages over 11 days and will take place at 5 different venues in Germany and Italy.

With no World Championships or Olympics this year, most of the world’s top all-round skiers will be peaking for the Tour de Ski, both because it will serve as a kind of de facto world championships and because it offers a rich haul of points for contenders in the World Cup overall competition. Athletes like Canada’s Alex Harvey have had the Tour in their sights as far back as last summer. “To be good in the overall you need to be good in the Tour,” he told SkiTrax last fall, “there are a lot of races, 9 stages, with 50 points available every day and then 400 points for the overall, so it’s a big event for points”. With that in mind Harvey declared, “I’ll try to be at my peak for the Tour de Ski”.

Harvey is not alone, with other top contenders like Norway’s Marit Bjoergen and Petter Northug tailoring their training and racing schedules to maximize their performances at the Tour. Nations Cup contenders like Norway, Sweden and Russia will send large teams, with rosters being announced this week. The USST is committing to the Tour de Ski in a big way this year, sending veterans Kikkan Randall, Kris Freeman and Andy Newell, along with rookies Holly Brooks, Liz Stephen and Simi Hamilton. Canada will send a small but powerful men’s team of Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey and Ivan Babikov, all of whom are capable of stage wins and at least top 20 in the overall standings.

Winter arrives in time for the Tour

While Europe and Scandinavia have been plagued by warm weather and poor snow conditions so far this season, winter seems to have finally arrived, with FIS announcing today that conditions in Oberhauf, site of the first two races in the Tour, are good, thus giving the green light to organizers to proceed as planned.  “In Oberhof today there are 30 cm of snow and a light snowfall with -4°C,” said Jürg Capol, FIS Race Director Cross-Country. “The weather forecast looks good, only one warm day on 23rd December is ahead of us until the Tour kicks off on 29th December. I am pleased that we can start the Tour de Ski as scheduled and looking forward to the 6th edition – it will be a fantastic event, a real season highlight,” Jürg Capol said.

Northug, Cologna, Bjoergen and Kowalczyk can be optimistic that the entire Tour will unfold as planned. In all resorts the new snowfall in the past few days has been supportive for the preparation of the courses and the OC’s as well as FIS are optimistic. In Oberstdorf the snow control will take place on Thursday, 22nd December whilst the decision in Toblach will be done on 24th December and Val di Fiemme follows on 29th December.

Bjoergen and Northug lead Norwegian squad at Tour de Ski

Head coach of the Norwegian Cross-Country team Vidar Løfshus has revealed that the overall FIS Tour de Ski standing is the team’s top priority. “We will give priority to athletes who have chances for good results in the overall Tour standing. Victory in the FIS Tour de Ski is the top priority for us this season,” Løfshus confirmed.

Løfshus also revealed that picking the ladies’ squad was a relatively easy task and more difficult on the men’s side. Youngsters Niklas Dyrhaug and Kristian Tettli Rennemo got a Tour de Ski ticket thanks to their strong performances at last weekend’s FIS Scandinavian Cup opener in Vuokatti.

Men

– Petter Northug jr., Strindheim IL
– Sjur Røthe, Voss IL
– Petter Eliassen, Byåsen IL
– Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Røa IL
– Eldar Rønning, Skogn IL
– Ola Vigen Hattestad, Ørje IL
– Niklas Dyrhaug, Tydal IL
– Kristian Tettli Rennemo, Leksvik IL

Ladies

– Marit Bjørgen, Rognes IL
– Therese Johaug, IL Nansen
– Vibeke Skofterud, Slitu IL
– Marthe Kristoffersen, IL Varden
– Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, IL Heming
– Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Gjøvik Skiklubb
– Heidi Weng, IL i BUL
– Kristin Størmer Steira, IL Forsøk

Sweden Sends Best skiers to the TdS

Swedish coaches Joakim Abrahamsson and Rikard Grip have selected the following athletes to compete in the FIS Tour de Ski.

Men

– Marcus Hellner, Gellivare Skidallians
– Daniel Richardsson, Hudiksvalls IF
– Calle Halfvarsson, Falun-Borlänge SK
– Anders Södergren, Östersunds SK
– Emil Jönsson, Årsunda IF
– Teodor Peterson, Åsarna IK
– Fredrik Jonsson, Hudiksvalls IF

Ladies

– Anna Haag, IFK Mora SK
– Charlotte Kalla, IFK Tärendö
– Hanna Brodin, Åsarna IK
– Ida Ingemarsdotter, Åsarna IK
– Lisa Larsen, Sundbybergs IK
– Maria Rydqvist, Älvdalens IF
– Mia Ericsson, Piteå Elit

2011-12 Tour de Ski race schedule

*With reports and releases from FIS XC