The current World Cup leader Eldar Roenning (NOR) won the today’s 30 km mass start competition in the classical technique in Val di Fiemme, the fifth Stage in the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski.
Eldar Roenning finished in today’s race in the finish sprint – 0.6 seconds – ahead of the Russian Ivan Alypov. Sami Jauhojaervi from Finland took the third place, reaching the finish 1,6 seconds behind today´s Stage winner. For Alypov and Jauhojaervi it was the best result in this Cross-Country season.
 Tor Arne Hetland (NOR) took the lead with 73 points followed by Thobias Fredriksson with 68 points. The youngster Simen Oestensen is third place with 59 points. Today’s race also determined the final standing in the Tour Sprint Ranking provided that all these athletes finish the Final Climb, the last Stage, tomorrow.<br />
The last competition of the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski will the Final Climb tomorrow. The finish will be at the middle station of Alpe Cermis cable carway.</p>
<p>Weather: partly cloudy, 2°C; snow -3°C<br />
Snow Conditions: hard packed </p>
<p>Quotes:</p>
<p>Eldar Roenning (NOR), Today’s Stage Winner: “It was a very good race for me today. I had very good skis. The first seven laps I was racing to help my team mates, for example Simen Oestensen who is well positioned for the Tour Overall Rankings (2nd Place). In the last lap, I could then attack for myself and I went for it. </p>
<p>Tomorrow, I think we will see some strange styles as we climb up the hill but the one who will be strongest and the best will win. I think I definitely used up some energy in today’s Stage so I do not think I will be one of the favorites for tomorrow, but I will try my best. â€</p>
<p>Tobias Angerer (GER), Tour Golden Bib: “It was a very hard race today. The Norwegian team was very strong and worked well together. Jens Filbrich & Rene Sommerfeldt were initially with me in the leading group which was good for us all. Later it was just Jens with me which made it more difficult to fight against the other teams. I tried to sprint for bonus seconds but had not so much chance since at the end of 6th lap I had crashed with Sami Jauhojaervi as I was trying to position myself for the sprint ranking which was just a few hundred meters afterwards. </p>
<p>I am in a good shape and tomorrow everyone will have to climb the same mountain which will be very hard. Although I had to fight against the strong Norwegian team today, tomorrow I will be looking only upwards and probably will not see any of them there ;-).â€</p>
<p>Tor Arne Hetland (NOR), Tour Sprint Ranking Winner (Silver Bib): “Today was my best race in the classical technique this season so far. I am not yet sure in what kind of a technique I will use to climb tomorrow since the hill is that steep but I will surely finish the Final Climb and take home the Sprint Ranking title tomorrow.†</p>
<p>For complete results please visit www.tour-de-ski.com</p>
<p>Source: FIS</p>
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