Back-to-back victories for Valnes who aims for a triple: 'I love it in Oberhof'

Erik Valnes (NOR) bagged his second consecutive victory this weekend as he won the men's 20km mass start classic in the Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Oberhof, Germany on Saturday.

The Norwegian 27-year-old, who won the classic sprint on Friday, showed he is not just a sprinter as he won the distance race 0.9 second before runner-up Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) as Paal Golberg (NOR) in third place completed the all-Norwegian podium, 1.6 seconds after the winner.

Valnes stayed in the front group of for the whole race, making sure to be in a good place as the fight for the podium spots tightened in the end. Then Valnes showed why he is No.1 in the World Cup sprint rankings, leaving the large field of skiers behind him to claim his fourth win this season.

"It was all about getting a good position and stay in the top-ten," Valnes said.

"I was feeling good so in the last half of the race I was very much staying in the top-three-four or in the front. I was feeling really strong and just waiting for the finish."

There had not been any World Cup action in Oberhof for 11 years before this weekend. The Norwegian men, who have got clean sweeps on the podium for two days straight, look happy to be back in the iconic winter sports town in the middle of the Thuringian Forest, 800m above sea level, in central Germany.

"I'm loving it here in Oberhof," Valnes said.

"It was amazing today. I really enjoyed racing today and my shape is really good."

For five of the six laps, the front group consisted of 25 closely packed skiers who had broken away from the rest of the field. Great Britain's Andrew Musgrave, Finland's Perttu Hyvarinen and Italy's Federico Pellegrino were some of the athletes taking turns to lead the pack in the front, Musgrave, Hyvarinen and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) picking up some sprint bonus points on the way. However the speed slowed down for the second part of the race, keeping the group together.

In the last kilometre, however, some gaps opened up in the front field as Iivo Niskanen and Valnes were up in the front, challenged by William Poromaa (SWE). Valnes made sure to be among the first skiers, confident that his sprint would do damage to most of the competitors as long as he did not let anyone get too far ahead.

In the last few hundred metres of the race, Valnes switched gears and double poled himself to a gap of several metres to his opponents. Nyenget following him but Poromaa could not respond.

"I am happy with this one," Nyenget said.

"It is a race that is a bit more tactical than I thought before the race. I was trying to hold Erik Valnes's back for as long as possible. And that was a good move."

Behind the top duo, last year's distance crystal globe winner Golberg battled it out for the third place with his compatriot Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), beating him by one tenth of a second. Outside of the Norwegian top-four, Pellegrino finished fifth, Hyvarinen sixth and Poromaa seventh. Antoine Cyr (CAN) finished eighth and Ristomatti Hakola (FIN) ninth, 2.7 seconds behind the winner.

Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) kept his position as the overall World Cup leader, 229 points ahead of Valnes in second place, but had to settle for a 14th place, 8.8 seconds after Valnes. In the tight race, 16 skiers finished within 10 seconds of the winner, Klaebo grabbing the 17th place 10.1 seconds behind.

The World Cup weekend in Oberhof concludes with the 4x7.5km relay classic/free on Sunday, where Valnes will look for a third consecutive win with the strong Norwegian team.

"Yes of course," the winner said, asked if he was going for a triple.

Click here for full results from the men's 20km mass start classic.

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