World Cup "Liveblogging" - Otepää Distance Races

Otepää, Estonia, is one of the great stops on the World Cup circuit: a tiny town in a tiny country, but one totally focused on cross-country skiing at the Tehvandi ski complex
Otepää usually plays host to classical technique races, often in the 10km/15km combination used this year. The racecourses have been updated this year to feature a bigger, steeper climb that should prove decisive today.  Since the Tour de Ski ended in early January, the World Cup has only had one event, the four sets of races at Canmore, Alberta, two weeks ago. Owing to mid-season illnesses and the distance from Europe, the Canadian World Cups didn't feature fields as deep as today's races, which should be tightly contested affairs.

Men's 15km
start American Kris Freeman is second off the line in today's interval start race, and looking to return to the form that saw him place fifth at an early-season race in Finland. The middle of the start list probably includes the racers with a legitimate shot at the podium today, including Norway's Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset, Sweden's Anders Soedergren, Germans Axel Teichmann and Tobias Angerer, and the World Cup leader, Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic. Estonian Andrus Veerpalu starts toward the back of the field in this, his first World Cup race in almost two years; the 15km classical gold medalist at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics, Veerpalu has been out of action with bad knees since late in the 2005-2006 World Cup season. My picks: 1. Hjelmeset, 2. Bauer, 3. Axel Teichmann (Germany)
0.9km Less than a thousand meters into the race, Lukas Bauer has a 3.7s lead over the rising young Finnish racer Ville Nousiainen, but fully 22 racers are within 10 seconds of the lead at this first time check.
2.3km Already, though, Bauer is showing that he is on good form again, having had to skip the Canmore races with illness: he now has put 11.4s into the second-placed racer at this time check - Estonian Jaak Mae. The native son has a narrow advantage over Nousiainen in third. Further down the field, Hjelmeset lurks in sixth, and Aivar Rehemaa, another Estonian, follows in seventh.
5.0km Coming back through the start area at the end of the first lap, Bauer is in control, running 10.1s in front of Mae, 22.4s on Nousiainen, and 25.8s on Hjelmeset. Andrus Veerpalu is moving up the field, placing 12th at this time check, 35.1s from Bauer. 
5.9km The exact status quo: Bauer, Mae, Nousiainen at the head of the race. Though there's a lot of snow to cover, the gaps are big enough that we might be seeing the podium already: Bauer has 11.2s on Mae, who has 12.5s on Nousiainen, who has 11.1s on Hjelmeset. A number of racers are clustered about 35s out of first - close enough at this point in the race to still be able to charge for the podium, but only just so. 
7.3km Just shy of the midpoint of the course, Bauer is extending his lead over Mae and Nousiainen as well as everyone else. Veerpalu is up to 10th now, and American Kris Freeman has climbed into 17th, just over a minute out.
10km Now two-thirds of the way through the race, only a disaster can alter the podium of Bauer, Mae, Nousiainen. But the Estonia crod must be elated to see Mae in second and Veerpalu in eighth - a great showing for both men. Kris Freeman is losing time to Bauer, but gaining it on many others, having climbed now into 14th place.
10.9km It's still Bauer, Mae, Nousiainen, but the Finn is slipping further behind and opening the door to the Norwegians Hjelmeset and Jens Arne Svartedal, who are running fifth and fourth, about 12 seconds behind Nousiainen - just in range. Hjelmeset, in particular, is a danger here, being an excellent finisher. Can Nousiainen hold on for a podium spot?
12.3km It looks like he can! With just 2700 meters to the finish, Nousiainen is maintaining a healthy lead over the fourth place Svartedal. Bauer is secure in first, Mae equally secure in second. Veerpalu is coming on like a freight train, though: he's now in sixth, having overtaken Hjelmeset and verging now on catching Svartedal and fifth-placed Anders Soedergren. Kris Freeman is steady in fourteenth.
15km Bauer wins commandingly, 13.7s ahead of Mae and 1:05 ahead of Nousiainen. Andrus Veerpalu barely misses the podium, winding up in fourth, 5.3s behind Nousiainen. Freeman finishes in 16th, just about two minutes down to Bauer, who is clearly rested and ready to make a run at the World Cup overall title.

Women's 10km
This race is the favorite of Finn Virpi Kuitunen, and it should be hers to lose. But Norwegian Marit Bjoergen, who abandoned the Tour de Ski with illness and then skipped the Canmore races, is looking to reassert herself, having recently won a Norwegian national championship at this distance. Pole Justyna Kowalczyk, the winner last year at Otepää, is another challenger to Kuitunen. Charlotte Kalla, the young Swede who won the Tour de Ski, will look to prove that she can race well in the classical technique, her less-favored style. My picks: 1. Kuitunen, 2. Bjoergen, 3. Kowalczyk
0.9km Kuitunen holds a 2.9s lead at the first time check, ahead of Norwegian Therese Johaug and German Claudia Nystad, but 20 racers are inside 10s of the lead.
2.3km A bit further down the track, Kuitunen has slipped to third, but remains within 3.5s of the lead, now held by the young Norwegian sprint star Astrid Jacobsen; Johaug remains in second. Marit Bjoergen is buried in 21st, and almost as many seconds behind. Some unknown racers from Norway, Russia, and France are in the upper tier of the standings at this time check!
5.0km At the end of the first lap, Kuitunen is back on top, 0.3s up on her teammate Aino Kaisa Saarinen. Johaug is in third here, Nystad in fourth. Justyna Kowalczyk has surged all the way up from 14th place and 16.9s down at the last time check to fifth, 5.1s out of first - clearly making a push for the podium.
5.9km The top two have flip-flopped: Saarinen, then Kuitunen at 2.5s. Kowalczyk is now in fourth, 10.6s from first and 6.3s from third, occupied still by Johaug.
7.3km At the last time check before the finish line, the two Finns have again exchanged the lead: Kuitunen now has 1.1s over Saarinen. Johaug is hanging in there, just 2.8s from first, but it's a long way down to the fourth- and fifth-place racers, Jacobsen at +17.2 and a fading Kowalczyk at +17.5. A huge push could get either of those two racers onto the podium, but they'd have to take advantage of a collapse by one of the three leaders.
10km It doesn't happen! Kuitunen, instead, mounts a huge charge to the line to win by 9.3s over Saarinen, who herself opens a big gap to Johaug in third at +17.6. With the win, Kuitunen retakes first place in World Cup distance rankings and extends her lead over Charlotte Kalla in the overall (distance plus sprint) rankings.

Forecast: Significant blowing and drifting, with the possibility of heavy accumulation in rural areas.