January 09, 2015 (Toblach, Italy) – The Norwegian women’s squad continued to dominate at the 2015 Tour de Ski, sweeping the top three positions of the Stage 5 15km FR Pursuit in Toblach, Italy yesterday. Marit Bjoergen (NOR) took the win and was the fastest of the day, extending her overall TdS lead to more than two minutes. Heidi Weng (NOR) and Therese Johaug (NOR) finished second and third, respectively, mirroring their overall rankings. The USA’s Liz Stephen (USA) was the top North American finisher in 15th.

Marit Bjoergen (NOR) © Nordic Focus

At the front, the competitors were strung out, skiing their own races, while farther back is where the shake-ups happened, namely in the race for top five, where Emma Wiken (SWE) started the day in fifth, but moved up to fourth in the overall by catching and passing Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), who was also caught by Ragnhild Haga (NOR).

Other Team USA results include Kikkan Randall (USA) in 25th, making up three spots from 28th. Jessie Diggins (USA) who is sick did not start and is out of the Tour while top-ranked Sadie Bjornsen had only planned to do four staging writing us, “Really excited about the last two days. The sprint was my second best ever. Yesterday was another awesome day. I laid it all out there and it was especially exciting to smell the podium for the first time ever in an individual race.

Stephen (l) and Bjornsen racing in Toblach last year © Nordic Focus

“Now, it is time to rest. It was really hard to pull the plug and stick to my plan of dropping out after 4 stages but I have some large goals in the next coming month, and World Championships. I have to remember this is my first Tour, and take everything one stride at a time. I will have another chance to try again next year in an non-championship year. Thanks to our awesome staff for keeping us rested, massaged, and amazing skis all four days.”

Results here.
Overall standings here.