Mika Vermeulen stormed into the top ten with an outstanding performance at the end of the Tour de Ski in Val die Fiemme on Sunday. The 24-year-old landed in fourth place in the final mass start competition over 10 km and improved to tenth place in the final results.
The Frenchman Jules Lapierre secured the day’s victory ahead of the German Friedrich Moch. The Norwegian Harald Östberg Amundsen clearly won the TdS overall ranking with a lead of 1:19.2 minutes over Moch. The Frenchman Hugo Lapalus came third (+1:32.8). Vermeulen was 3:56.6 minutes behind Amundsen. In the overall World Cup ranking, Vermeulen also moved into the top ten in ninth place.
In the Tour de Ski, no male cross-country skier from Austria had ever made it into the top ten. Johannes Dürr’s third place in 2014 was later revoked due to doping, otherwise Christian Hoffmann was once the 17th best ÖSV runner.
The women’s 10 km mass start with Teresa Stadlober is scheduled for the Fiemme Valley from 3:45 p.m. (live on ORF1 and in the live stream). The Salzburg native also hopes to maintain her top ten place in the overall ranking.
Men’s 10 km mass start, classic: 1. Jules Lapierre FRA 33:00.7 2. Friedrich Moch GER + 2.4 3. Hugo Lapalus FRA 16.0 4.
Mika Vermeulen
AUT 27.8 5. Harald Östberg Amundsen NOR 30.2 6. Martin Löwsröm Nyenget NOR 45.5 7. Jens Burman SWE 46.6 8. Beda Klee SUI 46.6 9. Arsi Ruuskanen FIN 1:05.9 10. Maurice Manificat NOR 1:10.9
