February 12, 2012 (Nove Mesto, Czech Republic) – The men’s 4x10km team relay in Nove Mesto on Sunday was a much tighter race than it looked like on the final score sheet. The victory for Norway came down to the final metres as Petter Northug executed his patent late-race surge to nip Russia I’s Maxim Vylegzhanin by 0.6s at the line. Marcus Hellner, who made a valiant bid for the win, ran out of gas and settled for third.

Up to that point seven nations were in the running as they gapped the chasers by 50+ seconds. Norway won all but the second classic leg raced by Niklas Dyrhaug, who was seventh, opening the door for the challengers. And challenge they did as Sweden’s Johan Olsson, yesterday’s 30km CL winner, took control.

Germany I and Italy I joined the front group looking for glory as well, but the big red machine was unstoppable as Martin Johnsrud Sundby tagged Northug first for the last leg. A rally on the final 10km by Sweden’s anchor, Hellner, trimmed the seven leaders down to five. As the seconds wound down Hellner was caught and the final flurry saw Northug emerge as the first to cross the line.

The US Team was off to superb start with Kris Freeman flying into the exchange in third – the Bird is back. He handed off to Noah Hoffman who pushed into second but could not hold the pace and fell back into 12th before handing off to Tad Elliott.

“It was a bit of a tough race for me today. It was fun and great experience to get to ski with the group for a while, but I was a little discouraged at not being able to hang with them,”  Hoffman told us post-race. “I feel healthy after having the flu last week. I’m excited to head to Poland tomorrow and then on to Turkey for U23 World Champs after next week’s World Cups. As a team we were happy about our effort but looking forward to more in the future.”

Elliott had his work cut out for him as the lead-off skater and he moved up to 10th battling with France and the Czech Republic. But as the leg ended he couldn’t hold off Jiri Horcicka (CZE) and tagged Simi Hamilton in 11th.

Hamilton looked strong hoping for a top-10 finish but the race was heating up as the leaders shed some skiers while others jockeyed for position. In the end he finished 12th at 2:18 behind the winners.

“We are fairly pleased with how things went today, but we would for sure be more psyched with a top-10. Personally, I was really feeling yesterday’s 30km in my legs, especially on the last two laps (last 5km),” Hamilton told SkiTrax by email

“Still, every relay we do on the World Cup gives us valuable experience as a team that will help us in our goal to be a podium contender in the future. Off to Poland tomorrow to get ready for Friday’s skate sprint. I’m really psyched for that one.” Canada did not field a team.

Full results HERE.
Full results detail HERE.