Rick Halling of Atomic USA called Atomic’s International Nordic Race staff the day after the Tour de Ski. He was able to get the Director, Peter Jurich, and the Senior Technician, Roman Toferer on a conference phone. Team Atomic’s Tobias Angerer won the inaugural event. Tobias was favored to win the overall title and he followed through with consistent racing. A pleasant surprise for Team Atomic was newcomer Simen Oestensen of Norway who took third overall.
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/oldsitearchive/upload/070110-124135-Angerer_070107_010_AH.jpg width=450 height=300.9375 border=1><br />
<font size=1 face=verdana>OVERALL CHAMPION TOBIAS ANGERER. WINNING IS FUN.</font></center></p>
<p>RICK HALLING: Congratulations on a very successful Tour de Ski. Your boy Tobias Angerer was the favorite going into the event. Did you feel that there was a lot of pressure on you to make sure the favorite had fast skis?</p>
<p>ROMAN: Ja, it was a little scarey. All the press kept saying over and over how Tobias was going to win this thing. If he have bad races, everybody point a finger at us and say, “Them Atomic guys don’t make Tobi’s skis go fast!†I tell you, that is what would happen.</p>
<p>RICK: That IS what happened to some of the wax technicians from different National Teams. It sounds like the journalists and fans were placing too much blame on the wax.</p>
<p>PETER: The technicians can only do so much. In the end, it is up to the man or woman who is on the skis to make them go fast. </p>
<p>ROMAN: It was crazy. There was more pressure on the wax technicians at the Tour de Ski than I ever see at Worldcup or Olympics.</p>
<p>RICK: Why was that?</p>
<p>PETER: The conditions were very tough, right around freezing, very tough to get the right wax.</p>
<p>ROMAN: Also, I think maybe because the Tour de Ski is new and was getting so much press. The athletes are such heroes that the papers don’t want to blame them for bad results. So everybody points a dirty finger at the wax technicians and say, “You are a bad person. You don’t make the skis go fast!â€</p>
<p>RICK: Your staff did an excellent job. Not only was Tobias the overall winner, you also took third place overall with Simen Oestensen. Also, Franz Goering won an impressive classic stage. Did you have a strategy for waxing and testing?</p>
<p>ROMAN: Ja, we had a very effective strategy. We kept it all very simple. Team Atomic would work with the wax technicians from the National teams. We would only wax a couple of pairs of skis for each athlete the night before the race.</p>
<p>PETER: And we keep the waxing very simple. We don’t use all them fancy powders with the bad smoke that make you cough. </p>
<p>ROMAN: Trond Nystad and I would go out on the tracks with different skis before the race and see what feel best.</p>
<p>RICK: No speed traps or glide tests?</p>
<p>ROMAN: No, best thing is just ski a few kilometers with different skis. Ski in the sun, ski in the shade, go up hills, go down hills, go in all conditions on the track and see which ski feels best.</p>
<p><center><img decoding=)
![](https://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2020/09/FasterSkier-logo-sq-320x320.png)