January 03, 2013 (Toblach/Cortina, Italy) – The Canadian men were locked out of their magic bus only 15 min before the start of Stage 4, the longest race at the Tour de Ski featuring 15km FR for the women and 35km the men… Alex Harvey explains what happened. Meanwhile Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephen put in a solid day at the office battling for precious seconds.

Harvey/Babikov Team Canada

 

Kikkan Randall (USA) – 8th Stage 4
Another solid day as we are now halfway through this Tour de Ski. Legs were a little stiff out there, but I was able to get in a good pack and it was fun to actually be able to take some time back on Kowalczyk.

I had hoped to race more with Charlotte Kalla but she was really strong today. The course was bomb-proof and super fast. I had a little fall early in the race when I tripped myself but thankfully it wasn’t at a really crucial point.

Now we go back into classic mode tomorrow. I’m looking forward to another short and fast race. This is when the Tour really starts to get interesting and it’s great to see how team responding to the challenge.

Five down, three to go!!

Elizabeth Stephen (USA) – 19th Stage 4
It was really fun to ski with Anna [Haag] today. We worked together the whole race, trading leads and working together to try and catch some people and close the gap to the top 10, so that was really fun. My body was a bit tired today, but being able to have a good friend to work hard with out there and make up some ground, keep my head in the game even with a tired body, was really good. It really was one of the most fun races I can remember in a while.

I have a goal of finishing the Tour in the top 10, but I still have some work to do ahead of me if I want to make that happen. Alp Cermis is a good place to make up some time and places for sure, but it is the last race, so hopefully I can make up a bit tomorrow or at least Saturday, as well.