January 08, 2011 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Norway’s Petter Northug is finally back on form, taking the win on Saturday’s 20km classic, stage 7 of the FIS Tour de Ski. Northug’s patented crushing finish line sprint has been absent from much of this year’s tour, but today he pulled out the big guns to reel in Canada’s Devon Kershaw who made a bid for the win in the final few hundred meters.

Tour leader Dario Cologna (SUI) was also in the fight for the line, finishing just ahead of Kershaw who’s daring last minute charge landed him in 3rd. Canadian teammate Alex Harvey finished solidly in 5th. With this podium, his 4th World Cup medal, Kershaw betters the record set by Alex’s father, the great Pierre Harvey, who won three World Cup medals – one in 1987 and two in 1988.

Kershaw now sits in 4th over all and both he and Harvey (currently ranked 7th) are well within striking distance of 3rd place Martin Jaks (CZE) heading into tomorrow’s final 9km freestyle hill climb up Alpe Cermis.

“There is not much else I can do now,” said Kershaw in a CCC release. “Four podiums is unbelievable. I’m still fired up. I have always dreamed of being on the World Cup podium and winning a World Cup race so to be a part of it is amazing.”

Harvey was also satisfied with his performance today. “I’m happy with my race for sure but it’s hard to be 5th two races in a row. I’d exchange those two 5th place for a 15th place and a podium,” Harvey told SkiTrax by email after the race.

Waxing conditions were very challenging, with temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Celsius. Many top athletes could be seen struggling with their grip including Marcus Hellner (SWE) who was second overall starting today but is now in 11th. Harvey had nothing but kind words for the Canadian wax team.

“I didn’t have any trouble kicking my skis, and the speed was good too. Our wax techs have been so good during the Tour, we have to give them a lot of credit for theses kind of results,” said Harvey.

The race started conservatively, with a lead pack of about 18 racers forming early on including Northug, Cologna, Kershaw, Harvey, Lucas Bauer (CZE), teammate Martin Jakz and Daniel Rickardsson (SWE). The leaders stayed together till the end despite some dramatic sprints for time bonuses.

At 3.3km Northug put on a surge, double polling hard to take the first time bonus of 15 seconds but Cologna countered grabbing 10s.

At the 6.6km Northug again devoured the 15-second bonus, glancing back over his shoulder Lance Armstrong-style as though taunting Cologna. Though he never made any serious attempt to break away, Northug made his dominance clear, eventually taking all five available bonuses. This gave the Norwegian a 1:15 leg up on the field. The rest of the bonuses (10 seconds for 2nd and 5 seconds for 3rd) were a mixed bag, with Cologna taking the lion’s share and leaving the scraps for the rest of the pack.

By the halfway point Kershaw and teammate Alex Harvey were comfortably positioned near the front of the pack.

“I still feel pretty strong,” said Harvey. “I was able to ski near the front for most of the race, the pace never felt too hard. I tried pushing it a bit on the 4th lap, but everybody was coming back in the downhills,”

Kershaw skied very tactically smart, keeping his time in the wind to a minimum. Harvey spent a little more time in the lead, pushing the pace at times and making a brief get-a-way before being reeled back in. The 18-skier lead pack now had just over 30 seconds lead on the chase pack containing Canadian Ivan Babikov in 28th spot.

At the final 18.3km time check Rickardsson put on a surge, but Kershaw, now in 4th, countered with an attack on the final climb and opened a small gap. Coming into the finish it was Kershaw in the lead being chased down by Northug and Cologna. They stormed by him as Northug finally got the chance to use his favourite double pole move, dusting his competitors at the line.

“People are surprised. I’m surprised too but we really shouldn’t be,” added Kershaw. “We are not a bunch of bums skiing in Canada. We have a great group of skiers in our country and our men’s team has taken our turns at the podium over the last few years.”

Harvey fought hard with Jaks to finish 5th behind the Czech who is having a great Tour and sits third overall, just ahead of Roland Clara (ITA). Hellner, who fell off the pace early ultimately wound up in 23rd spot, just ahead of Ivan Babikov in 27th. American Kris Freeman also had a tough day finishing in 38th position.

“I had a good feeling today, I knew that I had to be offensive from the start and fight for the bonus seconds,” Northug said post-race in a FIS XC interview after the race. “I wanted to go for the last 30 second bonus at the finish because I need it for tomorrow.”

The standings heading into tomorrow’s final stage are Cologna in 1st followed by Northug in 2nd at 1:18.1, and then it’s Martin Jaks in 3rd at 2:46.5 down with Kershaw nipping at his heels in 4th, only 5.5 seconds out of third. Curdin Purl (SUI) is 5th, Jean Marc Gaillard (FRA) is 6th and Harvey is 7th just over 11 seconds out of 3rd.

Look for more fireworks on Sunday on Stage 8, the final stage at the 2010/11 Tour de Ski.

20km Classic results HERE.
Overall Standings HERE.