Lapierre makes gruesome climb to first World Cup win: 'It's so tough but I like it'

France's Jules Lapierre got the first Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup victory of his career as he won the men's mass start 10km free in Val di Fiemme, Italy on Sunday.

The 28-year-old becomes the second Frenchman to take a win in the Tour de Ski's final climb stage, where skiers race up an Alpine skiing slope, Maurice Manificat (FRA) being the first to do it in the 2016-17 Tour.

Lapierre's only previous World Cup podium had come one year ago, when he finished third in the same race.

Climbimg up the gruesome 425m rise of the mountain Alpe Cermis before runner-up Friedrich Moch (GER) and Hugo Lapalus (FRA), Lapierre made it a big day for France – on a track that not all skiers would call their favourite.

"I like it. It's so tough but I like it," Lapierre said.

"It's an amazing day for the French team – Hugo was on the podium with me and he is also in the Tour de Ski podium, so, what else (could one wish for)."

Before the steep climbing started, Lapierre kept it calm behind the front. It was Sweden's 21-year-old Edvin Anger who made the first push of the race to finish first after 2.3km and grab the 15 bonus points for that. Behind him, Frenchmen Lucas Chanavat and Jules Chappaz took the 12 and 10 points respectively.

At the 6.8km mark, Norway's Harald Oestberg Amundsen, who was going for the win of the 2023/24 Tour de Ski, was in front to get 15 bonus points, his teammate Martin Loewstroem Nyenget getting 12 and Moch ten.

With 2.5km left of the race, Lapierre and Lapalus were in fifth and sixth position respectively, and started to make their way to the front, Lapierre pulling his teammate who was racing for an overall second place in the Tour.

As Lapalus fell back, Lapierre followed Moch up the last bit of the tough climb and went past the German with only some hundred metres to go, to cross the finish line with a 2.4-second margin.

"(My tactic was) to stay well-placed in the group and see how they manage the race and not technically going too hard in the beginning of the uphill," Lapierre said.

"But we had a plan but it doesn't go as we want every time."

Moch was behind Amundsen coming into the last kilometres' climb, dragging Lapierre and Lapalus behind him for some time as he tried to break free.

The 23-year-old runner-up, who also claimed the second place in the overall Tour de Ski standings, got a career-best result, improving from his third-place in the final climb in Val di Fiemme two years ago.

"I remember it being really bad from last year and that's actually why it worked this year. And it was over quicker than I thought," Moch said.

"I tried not to run in too fast at the bottom and then still have strength at the top. And I think that actually worked out quite well. Then I was just really happy when I noticed that the others were falling behind."

Lapalus finished 16 seconds behind the winner to claim the third-place and become No.3 in the overall standings of the Tour. It is also the best he has achieved in World Cup competition, his previously best result being a fourth-place in the 20km pursuit classic in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.

Austria's Mika Vermeulen grabbed the fourth place before Amundsen, whose fifth place 30.2 seconds after Lapierre was enough to give him the Tour's overall victory.

Nyenget, Jens Burman (SWE) and Beda Klee (SUI), in position six, seven and eight respectively, also finished within a minute after the winner.

Click here for full results from the men's 10km mass start free and here for the men's overall 2023/24 standings.

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