Well, I was way off on my picks for the La Clusaz mass-start skating races today - not one of my picks for the podium spots wound up there. Surprisingly, Virpi Kuitunen won the women's 15km. She has superlative classical technique but had been viewed as lacking top-level skating abilities. No more. And her sprinter's kick came proved awfully handy in breaking clear of a large pack and winning by 0.30 seconds over another Finn, Riita Liisa Roponen. The emerging Italian star Adriana Follis took third, edging Katerina Neumannova - my pick for the overall win. The first five finishers crossed the line within two seconds of Kuitunen, the top ten within six seconds.
The pack was tight in the men's 30km, too. Ole Einar Bjørndalen, my pick to win after his dominating performance at Gëllivare and on the biathlon circuit, faded badly, ending up sixteenth. A late, futile attack by Swede Matthias Fredriksson broke up the field and sent Tobias Angerer (Germany) and Evgeni Dementiev and Alexander Legkov (both Russia) toward the line in a three-way sprint. The bull-necked Angerer - probably the best finisher in the World Cup - eked out the win, .6 up on Legkov and .8 on Dementiev (who had won a gold at Torino by emerging from a massive field sprint in the pursuit).
With Sunday's relays still to come, the two individual winners have already staked a big claim to the Tour de Ski, the next round of competition. Versatility in technique and distance will be critical, as the Tour includes eight races in ten days - three classic-style events ranging from less than 5km up to 15km/30km, four freestyle events ranging from 1km sprints to 10km/15km, and a combined-technique double pursuit. All but two events are mass or pursuit starts, pressure-filled affairs which put a premium on the steely nerves that Angerer and Kuitunen today demonstrated they have.
My revised picks for the relays: