Klaebo back on top with comfortable 20km win: 'My shape is getting better and better'

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo showed why he is the overall Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup leader as he ended a weekend of mixed results in Les Rousses, France, with a big win in the men's 20km mass start classic on Sunday.

It had been a long time since the Norwegian 26-year-old had left two consecutive World Cup races without a win. After finishing eighth in the 10km free on Friday and second in Saturday's sprint, Klaebo showed early in the race that he was not going to give this one up easily.

Instead of letting others do the job in the early stages, Klaebo took the lead in the first four laps before starting to race more tactically in the last two, as six skiers broke away from the rest of the field around the 15km mark.

In the final lap, Finland's Iivo Niskanen drove up the speed but had no chance in the final stretch where Klaebo, who lost Saturday's sprint to France's Richard Jouve by centimetres, was determined to have the margins on his side this time.

The Norwegian pushed away from Niskanen and could rise his arms to celebrate and applaud the audience before crossing the line 1.2 seconds ahead of the 31-year-old Finn. Sweden's William Poromaa finished third.

"It was a tough race," Klaebo said.

"The first uphill here is really steep so it was challenging but we had really good skis and I think my shape is becoming better and better."

Klaebo said the energetic audience had made it a weekend to remember as the French town, just West of Lake Geneva by the Swiss border, hosted its first Cross-Country World Cup competition.

"It was amazing to race here with all the spectators throughout the tracks. It was just a really good atmosphere here," he said, praising the tracks.

"It was a lot of fun, especially because it was a really long downhill part. That was really tough, and the last 100m were also pretty tough," Klaebo said.

"I'm really glad I managed to finish off this weekend with a win here."

Kerttu Niskanen had taken a second place in the women's 20km mass start a couple of hours before, and her little brother did not want to be worse, earning his first podium of the season with hopes for more.

"I expected a really tough race," Iivo Niskanen said.

"Mass starts are always quite stressful to ski but here we had so many curves in the downhill and a narrow course that it wasn't that big of a group any more for the last laps.

"I felt better and better for each lap and in the end I had a really good feeling. Maybe I tried to push a little too hard a little too early but it was impossible to go away today. The shape is not what it should be but it was a good day."

Poromaa has only finished on an individual World Cup podium three times. Two of them this weekend, having finished third in the 10km free on Friday too. Showing that he will be in it for the medals as the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2023 starts in Planica, Slovenia, in a few weeks, the talented 22-year-old had hoped to climb one more step on the podium this time, having finished 0.1 second behind Niskanen.

"The feeling was good. I felt strong, it was a really tough race with a high pace all the way. I thought I was going to take Ivo for the second (place) but he was really strong. It was close but overall it was a really strong race," he said.

Les Rousses will however still have a special place in Poromaa's heart.

"It was fantastic. A really nice weekend. I really hope that we  are going to come back here and race again. It was a really great course," he said.

Didrik Toenseth finished fourth, three seconds after Poromaa, and 0.6 second before teammate Sjur Roethe who had to settle for a fifth-place. Overall World Cup runner-up Paul Golberg finished sixth, before compatriot Martin Loewstroem Nyenget who made sure five of the seven top spots were Norwegian.

Klaebo's win increases lead in the overall World Cup standings where the gap down to Golberg for the first time this season exceeds 100 points.

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