The competition for both ladies' and men will
be changed somewhat to avoid overtaking situations. The Jury made the
following decisions:
- The first 15 ladies start according to their overall time handicap, the rest in one wave 5 minutes after the first athlete
- The first 30 men start according to their overall time handicap, the rest in one wave 6 minutes after the first athlete
- Men race only one lap of 2,5km instead of 3 before heading out to the final climb.
As a result we will have slightly shorter overall distance on
the final day but the same climb. Ladies' race will be around 9,4km and
the distance for men 11km.
FIS Race Director
Jürg Capol comments the situation on the last uphill for the Tour de Ski website. He was just out there on the last uphill together with
Vegard Ulvang with
their headlamps on. “I am feeling much better after skiing on the final
uphill now when it is properly groomed; the grip is really good! It was
like an alpine slope 2 days ago and is now much more close to cross
country.
Ulvang adds: “We will mark the course on steeper parts using
switchbacks so there will be no advantage to use skins.
Therefore the
Jury decided to ban the use of any mechanical help like skins tomorrow.
But I can assure you that it was a big difference skiing tonight when
it's groomed than it was 2 days ago. It was cross country now.” The
courses will be marked between 8 – 10 o'clock tomorrow.