Amundsen wins Toblach 20km in pursuit of Tour title

Harald Østberg Amundsen (NOR) cemented his status as the favourite for the FIS Cross-Country Skiing 2023-24 Tour de Ski in the absence of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo with victory in the 20km Freestyle Pursuit in Toblach, Italy on Monday.

After a breakthrough season in 2022/23, when he secured his first World Cup win and claimed silver in the 15km at the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, the 25-year-old has found consistency this season to go with his undoubted talent. This is his second victory, and fifth podium, of the season, achieved across three distances – all in his favourite freestyle technique.

“It was extremely hard, a long 20k,” Amundsen said of conditions in Toblach, where racers had to complete five laps of 4.4 kilometres – so, 22km in total – on a course with steep climbs, long downhill sections and flat straights. “Fresh snow meant the course was not so fast, so I was pretty tired from the beginning.”

The pursuit format means racers go out according to the Tour de Ski standings, with Amundsen starting four seconds behind compatriot Erik Valnes. But he quickly closed the gap, enabling the two Norwegians to work together for the majority of the race.

As cross-country legend Petter Northug noted before the race, the pursuit format normally favours large chasing groups who can share the workload, but with Amundsen going out hard, the gap was always too great. With Ben Ogden (USA) and Perttu Hyvarinen (FIN), who started the day third and fourth respectively, quickly dropping back, the gap to the chasing pack was up to one minute, 16 seconds by the beginning of lap two – and it would never get much smaller.

Amundsen, a technically accomplished skater (freestyler), made his move around the 15km mark, quickly taking his lead out to more than 10 seconds as the snow began to fall a little more heavily: “I finally got the gap on Erik so I could just make my own pace the last few laps, so it was nice to see the gap got bigger.”

“I’m really satisfied,” Amundsen said, having finally crossed the line in 52 minutes, 38 seconds – 32.9 seconds ahead of Valnes – declaring himself “so happy” to claim the yellow bib as the new leader of the Tour de Ski. He also extended his lead in the overall World Cup standings.

It was a good result for Valnes, though, who is normally a sprint specialist, with all but one of his 14 World Cup podiums before Monday coming over the shorter distance.

The chasing pack had left it too late to reel in the 27-year-old, nine of them in a straight shootout for bronze. Another sprint specialist, Federico Pellegrino (ITA) would have been many people’s favourite – including the home crowd – but he left himself too much too to do heading into the final straight. Instead, Jan Thomas Jenssen (NOR) edged out William Poromaa (SWE) and Martin Loewstrom Nyenget (NOR) in a photo finish to make it a Norway 1-2-3.

It was Jenssen, who claimed his maiden World Cup win – also in the 20km Freestyle – in Ruka, Finland, in November, who posted the fastest time of the day, too – 52:08.6 seconds. He is 1:04 behind Amundsen in the Tour standings, with just seven seconds separating the next eight contenders in the race for the Crystal Globe.

After a day’s rest, the 2023/24 Tour de Ski, continues in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday 3 January with a Freestyle Sprint.

For full results from Toblach, click here.