Yesterday we reported that the two main favorites for the overall victory in the men’s competition – last year’s first two place winners Johannes Hesflots Klebo and Simens Hegstad Krieger – will not participate in the “Tour de ski”. This is not the only omission in the Norwegian team, as last year’s World Cup winner and Tour de ski’s third best lady, Tirila Udnes Veng, who is still not fully recovered from illness and has not made a single start in this year’s PK, will not participate in the women’s competition.
There are also problems in national teams of other countries. The biggest Finnish star Ivo Niskanen should be mentioned here first. The Olympic and world champion has indicated that the tour will be without him this year. Two strong French skiers will also not participate – the medalist of the Olympic Games and the World Championships in the relay and team sprint, as well as four-time winner of the PK stages, Richard Jouve, and Flora Dolce, who won 4th place in Ostersund this season, and was in the top 15 on two other occasions.
While several leaders will miss the “Tour de ski”, others have decided to start, even though they are not fully recovered. The leaders of the Swedish national team, Eba Anderson and Kalle Halfvarsson, had Covid at Christmas, but this Wednesday they announced that they will start the tour. Therefore, there is a possibility that in the women’s competition, one of the main favorites to win the overall standings may not complete the tour. The situation is similar with two strong Norwegians – Paul Gulberg and Didrik Tenset.
The “Tour de ski” gives you the opportunity to earn quite a lot of points for the overall ranking, and the overall winners for both men and women will receive almost 100,000 euros.
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