The Tour de Ski for cross-country skiers came to an end with a big surprise. Friedrich Moch was third in the final show of strength on the Alpe Cermis on Tuesday. The 21-year-old was 18.9 seconds short of the Norwegian winner of the day Sjur Roethe, who needed 31: 42.1 minutes for the ascent, and the second-placed Russian Alexander Spitsow 16 seconds. The excellent German performance was completed by Lucas Bögl, who was fourth ahead of overall winner Johannes Klaebo from Norway. Klaebo won the cross-country skiers’ World Cup highlight for the second time. The three-time Olympic champion secured four of the six stage wins. With his third place, Moch improved to 14th place in the overall classification. Janosch Brugger finished the tour in 19th, Bögl in 20th. “It’s nice that we are now making headway again,” said Moch. Both runners are already qualified for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. In the women’s category, Katharina Hennig finished the final stage in twelfth place, with which she defended ninth place in the overall standings. “I’m very happy about that,” said Hennig after the race in the skating technique she did not love: “This is one of the toughest competitions you can imagine.” In the past two years, Hennig had finished eighth in the Tour de Ski. Natalja Neprjajewa was the first Russian to secure victory.
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