Amundsen makes it a Toblach double as Klaebo stretches Tour de Ski lead
Jan 01, 2025·Cross-Country
Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) made it two wins in as many days in Toblach, Italy, but there are many subplots to his 15km Pursuit Classic victory on Wednesday when it comes to the overall story of the FIS Cross Country World Cup 2024/25.
A fourth victory of the season meant the 26-year-old stretched his lead in the overall World Cup standings to 47 points in his quest for a second straight Crystal Globe – not to mention bringing him extra prize money.
But perversely, he fell further behind compatriot Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in the Tour de Ski standings. This is because Wednesday’s start times were based on Tuesday’s 20km Freestyle performances. This meant Amundsen started 46.4 seconds ahead of Klaebo in the 15km Classic but finished just 5.3s ahead of his compatriot, meaning Klaebo leads the reigning Tour champion by 57 seconds going into the second leg in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
"Today was ok," Klaebo said. "My goal was to have as small gap to Harald as possible and I managed to do that, so I'm satisfied."
Sandwiched in between them is Edvin Anger. The giant young Swede was the day’s big winner. He sits 36 seconds behind Klaebo in the Tour standings after overhauling his fellow sprint specialist in the final downhill section to claim second place, just 2.5s behind Amundsen.
It remains to be seen what the physical and mental toll of spending two days racing on his own at the front of the pack will have on reigning Tour champion Amundsen – in Val di Fiemme and beyond.
An undulating 5km Toblach course had a bit of everything for the skiers with a brutal first section out of the stadium with lots of double poling required followed by a sharp double ascent and ensuing downhill that allowed competitors to reach speeds of up to 80 km/h.
Fittingly as the holder of the purple bib for the Tour’s best climber, Amundsen seemed to have the advantage in the uphills.
Having won Tuesday’s 20km Freestyle by 21 seconds from Simen Hegstad Krueger, Amundsen blasted out of the starting gate to stretch his lead to 31.7s by 2.1km, only for Krueger, Andrew Musgrave (GBR) and Klaebo – who quickly caught up with his fellow chasers – to close the gap during the downhill sections.
The second lap followed a similar pattern. Amundsen took his lead out to 41.5s at 7.1km; by 10km it had shrunk to 17.7s. But could the others get close enough to challenge for the lead?
While Musgrave fell back, Klaebo and Krueger were joined by more pursuers, including Anger. Together, they started to close the gap further on Amundsen. Then we witnessed something extraordinary: the great Klaebo, so smooth and speedy on the downhills, was overhauled by Anger.
The 22-year-old even began to pull away. But not quite enough to catch Amundsen, who crossed the line in 35 minutes, 18.9 seconds, collapsing to the snow in relief as much as jubilation.
During his post-match interview, the Norwegian was so exhausted he could barely speak, describing it as “probably the hardest race I have ever done” and describing the feeling of being chased down by the pack as “terrible”.
“I felt quite good in the beginning and tried to have some energy at the end, but I heard the other guys were closing in,” Amundsen explained. “Then for the last time in the closing uphill I tried to increase a little bit, but the last two kilometres I was totally dead. They were quite close but I’m happy with the victory.”
Anger said: "I had a good day and a good body, so I needed to use this day to go as fast as I can from the start to the finish line.
"It's the best distance race of my life so fun to start 2025 with this."
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