In a grouped mass start for three out of four laps, it was the usual favorite, Johannes Klaebo, who broke away to win on the Oberstdorf stage, in the World Cup (victory in 32’26 ” 4). Three days after his victory in the free sprint ahead of Richard Jouve and Lucas Chanavat, the Norwegian ended with a bang a race that took time to settle.
After a dense start, a group of seven riders broke away just before the 10th kilometer, on the initiative of Alexander Bolshunov. From an acceleration in a bump, the Russian will have settled the race, without being paid at the end. Quickly, these seven runners passed to four. And as luck would have it, we found in the selection Klaebo, but also his compatriot Sjur Roethe and the Briton Andrew Musgrave.
Around the 25 minutes of racing, the quartet therefore found itself in the lead. The candidates for victory seemed to be at the same height and blessed with the same freshness. But in the last bump, the inevitable happened. Klaebo took the lead in the breakaway, a few steps ahead, and his acceleration in the descent, mixed with superior technical and physical mastery made him fly. The mass was said.
At the finish line, Klaebo edged Bolshunov by 3.4 seconds, and Roethe by 4 seconds. Musgrave finished at the foot of the podium. At only 25, he clinched his 47th World Cup victory and equaled the record set by Norwegian legend Petter Northug. Already triple Olympic champion in 2018, Klaebo will be the big favorite of several disciplines at the Beijing Olympic Games (February 4-20).
Behind all these beautiful people, the French Clément Parisse and Hugo Lapalus took 7th and 8th places in Germany, almost 25 seconds behind the winner of the day.
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