It didn’t take long for the three-time defending Tour de Ski champion to remind everyone how dominant she can be. Starting the 9 k classic pursuit from the third position, nearly 15 seconds down to prologue winner Kikkan Randall (USA), Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) swallowed that deficit by just the third kilometer of the 10 k classic pursuit, eventually extending it to a 41.4-second winning margin over Therese Johaug (NOR). Anne Kyllönen (FIN) continued her impressive early season in third (+45.0) and Denise Hermann (GER) had a strong fourth-place performance (+48.5) in front of the German crowd.
Kowalczyk was happy to be back in the familiar leader’s bib. “It was good for me today,” she said. “My servicemen did a very good job today, my skis were fast and the kick was good. I also like the conditions here, when the track is a little bit soft.”
Her skis certainly seemed better than most of the field’s. Where others slipped and were forced into a herring-bone, Kowalczyk was more often able to maintain a diagonal stride. Her techs also hit the glide, as she was able to make up considerable time on the descents.
Kowalczyk has turned mass start events into battles for second several times this season, and after about seven minutes on the Oberhof course she seemed nearly guaranteed do so again. She bridged the gap on Charlotte Kalla (SWE), the starter in front of her, and then on Randall. The American held onto Kowalczyk’s tails for about a minute but by the time the leaders came through the stadium she was losing ground.
“I tried to make it hard for Kowalcyk to catch me, [and then] I tried to hang onto her a little bit but I just can’t seem to find that final gear in my classic skiing yet,” Randall said. She stayed with the main chasing pack for the next few kilometers but eventually lost contact, finishing fourteenth and 1:33 back.
As Kowalczyk skied strong off the front, for only a brief period did it look as though anyone would be able to catch her. Johaug, who started 32 seconds back in bib 13, remained within 18 seconds of Kowalczyk at 3.7 k, at which point the latter had already taken the lead. But by the next checkpoint at 6.7 k Kowalczyk had widened the gap to 35 seconds.
“It was pretty good at first, but I had a little too aggressive start,” Johaug told the NRK.
The Norwegian women’s best hope to win the Tour made her attempt at catching Kowalczyk alone, and when the chasing group behind her caught back up the leader was out of anyone’s reach. From there Johaug battled in a pack of about ten skiers, including Kyllönen, Hermann, Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR), Astrid Jacobsen (NOR), and three other Finns.
Johaug successfully held them at bay to move into second in the Tour, and she isn’t counting herself out of the running for the overall just yet. With the time bonuses Johaug is 46.4 seconds down to Kowalczyk headed into the third stage, a sprint in Switzerland, where Kowalczyk is likely to struggle.