January 03, 2015 (Obertsdorf, GER) – Canada’s Alex Harvey was a solid 13th in the men’s 4.4km Prologue at the prestigious Tour de Ski but the day belonged to Swiss star Dario Cologna who fired warning shots that he means business at this year’s Tour.

Cologna has won the Tour three times (2009, 2011, 2012) but it was his first time winning the Prologue. Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson was 5.0 behind relegating Norwegian star, Petter Northug Jr. to third at 5.5s behind the winner. Northug has yet to claim a Tour crown.

“I did not expect to be on the podium today,” commented Cologna, “I knew I was in better shape than before. I had a good training during the Christmas. I did not expect to win but I felt I was in good shape. Prologue is just the first competition but it is good to see everything is working well.”

For Harvey, 26, it was a good sign eventho he and teammate Devon Kershaw were 1-2 last year for a historic Canadian start to the Tour.

“I felt good in the warm-up today and was happy with the race. I haven’t quite found my groove in skating this year, but it is coming and today was a sign of that,” said Harvey. “I was a little stiff near the end, but overall it was a good day.”

Harvey was in seventh after completing the first of two 2.2-kilometre laps but dropped out of the top-10 on the second lap to finish 13th. Kershaw finished 45th, Len Valjas was tied for 51st and Ivan Babikov placed 57th.

Leading the charge for the USA was Simi Hamilton in 26th followed by Erik Bjornsen in 48th and Andy Newell in 82nd.

“The prologue is a hard race to pace. You have to go out fast, but also need to find a way to save your energy,” added Harvey. “This prologue was also about 600 metres longer than normal, and it had three pretty big climbs, so it was a little more difficult and you could really feel it in the end.”

Full results here.