March 10, 2016 (Canmore, Alta.) – Going into the final two races of the inaugural Ski Tour Canada, Norwegian star, Petter Northug, is in second overall behind Sergey Ustiugov of Russia, the current leader by 47.3 seconds. A celebrity in his native Norway, Northug is renowned for both his skiing prowess and his strong and colourful personality.

This includes choosing not to contest the Spring CL final on Stage 5 of the Tour as the legendary Northug “raced” to the finish at a leisurely pace, a whopping 2:15 behind Federico Pelligrino’s 3:46 winning time. Speculation on his non-race ranged from saving energy for the next day’s 30km skiathlon, to not wishing to attend the awards ceremony that evening. SkiTrax managed to catch with the controversial Norwegian for a few minutes on Tour’s second rest day.

How have you been liking Canada?
Petter Northug: It’s been good. I’ve been having a good time here, skiing in new places. For the last week we’ve been back in Canmore – it’s nice to be back.

So you have skied in Canmore before?
PN: Yeah, I was here in 2008 and the plan was to be here also before the Olympics in 2010 as well but we didn’t make it.

What’s your plan for the remaining two stages?
PN: My plan is to try to attack tomorrow (May 11). To try to get as good of a gap as possible before the end. That’s my goal.

Some say that you “sandbagged” the Sprint CL final in Canmore – what was your strategy behind skiing a leisurely “final sprint”?
PN: Yeh, you get very good pain when you’re in the finals. There’s not so many seconds different from sixth to second or third in the sprints.

So it was strategic to save yourself for the remaining races?
PN: Yes, it was to save power for the next, last races.

I read that you were enjoying your anonymity in Canada – can you tell us more about that?
PN: It’s good to be here, on the other side, and compete. But there have been a lot of people in the stadium, a lot of people out cheering. We’re happy for that also.