Sunday Rundown: Harvey Up to 3rd, Diggins Holds Onto 6th Overall in TDS

FIS Cross-Country Tour de Ski Stage 2 (Val Müstair): 5/10 k classic mass starts

Men’s report | Women’s report

There was a lot of jostling between Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov and Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby, with the latter leading early and the Russian not letting him get too complacent up front, but ultimately, Ustiugov was the first across the line in the men’s 10-kilometer classic mass start, the second stage of the Tour de Ski in Val Müstair, Switzerland.

Ustiugov put himself back ahead of Sundby with fewer than 2 k to go and held a sizable lead to the finish, crossing in 24:50, while Sundby finished second, 1.9 seconds back.

Norway took second through fourth with Didrik Tønseth in third (+2.3) and Sjur Røthe in fourth (+3.3), while home-crowd favorite Dario Cologna of Switzerland settled for fifth (+5.5) after racing in the top three for much of the race.

The top 13 finishers all ended up within 10 seconds of Ustiugov at the finish, with Finland’s Matti Heikkinen in sixth (+5.6), Sweden’s Marcus Hellner in seventh (+6.0), and Canada’s Alex Harvey in eighth (+7.0).

With a six place on Saturday and eighth on Sunday, Harvey is currently third overall in the Tour, 59.6 seconds behind Ustiugov in first and 40.7 seconds behind Sundby in second (Sundby trails Ustiugov in the overall by 18.9 seconds.)

Finland’s Iivo Niskanen made it into the top 10 on Sunday in ninth (+7.0), as did the fourth Norwegian, Simen Hegstad Krüger in 10th (+7.3).

Devon Kershaw made big strides in moving up to 27th (+42.9) for 32nd overall in the Tour (+2:22.5), Graeme Killick placed 33rd (+49.3) and Len Valjas 38th (+54.3) for Canada. Valjas is currently 26th overall (+2:13.5) and Killick 36th (+2:29.5) in the Tour.

Erik Bjornsen led the U.S. men in 42nd (+59.9) for 42nd overall (+2:41.2). Noah Hoffman placed 46th (+1:13) and is currently 48th in the Tour (+2:57.4) and Simi Hamilton (+3:14.8) was 75th out of 78 finishers. A sprinter, Hamilton planned to withdraw from the Tour after this stage for a training block.

[UPDATED] In the women’s 5 k classic mass start, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg rebounded from Saturday, in which she was eliminated in the semifinals for seventh place in the freestyle sprint, with a seven-second victory over Norwegian teammate Heidi Weng.

Østberg finished first in 13:21.2, Weng took second for her second-straight podium of the Tour, and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski finished third (+11.4).

American Jessie Diggins raced to eighth (+32.6) to maintain her position in sixth overall in the Tour. Østberg took the Tour lead after two stages by 10.3 seconds over Weng. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, who won Saturday’s sprint, is third, 23.8 seconds back from Østberg, while Parmakoski improved to fourth (+42.0). Norway’s Kathrine Rolsted Harsem placed seventh on Sunday for fifth overall (+51.6), and Diggins 1:01 back in sixth.

The second American in the top 20, Kikkan Randall raced to 19th (+42.4). Also for the U.S., Sadie Bjornsen finished outside the points for the first time this season in 35th (+1:02.6), Sophie Caldwell was 38th (+1:09.4), Rosie Brennan 39th (+1:10.5), and Liz Stephen improved to 44th (+1:21.2).

Overall, Randall is currently 15th (+1:45.9), Caldwell 22nd (+2:03.3) — although Caldwell planned to withdraw from the Tour after Stage 2. Bjornsen is 25th (+2:05.4), Brennan 41st (+2:33.1) and Stephen 46th (+2:49.9).

Results: Men | Women

Overall Tour standings: Men | Women