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Mass Start Nordic racing ain’t fair—it just can’t be. The Classic track in Toblach, Italy is only four skiers wide, so many mass-start racers will find themselves off the back as soon as the starter’s pistol fires. For those positioned mid-pack, the early kilometers of any mass-start race will be a series of fate-defying moves in attempts to press forward, to make up a few valuable places, to keep from getting skis run over, to keep from getting poles snapped. Starting in the middle of the pack is a daunting prospect, a penalty of sorts for having failed to rank high enough to earn an up-front start position. That’s how heavily yesterday’s Sprint competition affected today’s Classic Mass Start.
Following fine finishes in Tour de Ski’s first Sprint stage, two Americans began the day in top ten start positions: Ben Ogden 6th and Gus Schumacher 10th. JC Schoonmaker and Jack Young also earned top 20 start positions by their terrific performances in the prior day’s sprints. Stars and Stripes racing suits would be in contending positions when the moves started happening.
“I don’t think we have too much of a team plan,” Schumacher said in pre-race interviews. “Just race our own races and do the best we can.”
“Go with the leaders as long as possible,” Schumacher said. “And make something happen in the end, hopefully.”
Andrew Musgrave (GBR) summed up the aspirations of many: “Plan A is to get to the front without using too much energy.”
In the end Tour Leader (and yesterday’s Sprint winner), Klaebo, managed to work his strategy to perfection, hanging around near the front to orchestrate a perfect sprint at the finish. Erik Valnes (NOR) skied across the line on Klaebo’s tails, followed by Haavard Moseby in third.
American start positions translated into good finishes as well: Schumacher skied with the leaders throughout the race, sprinting to a thoroughly credible seventh. Behind him, Zanden continued to add to his great early-season finishes in 17th, Ogden 26th, Schoonmaker 46th, and Young 84th. Among Canadians, Antoine Cyr skied terrifically, keeping himself in contention throughout the final lap and sprinting in the final group to finish ninth. Olivier Leveille was the other Canadian finisher in 52nd.
Men’s 15 k Mass Start
Toblach featured hard tracks (very muchto the racers’ liking), but fairly warm temperatures: +5 degrees celsius on a course that would wind four times around a 3.5 kilometer loop.
A massive field of 95 men was led out of the stadium by Klaebo (whose initial pace was conspicuously hot). Things quickly began to stretch out, the fast pace giving skiers more room to maneuver but making it decidedly more difficult to move up. Classic specialists and overall challengers (like Amundsen and Nyenget) who had failed to excel in yesterday’s sprint would be forced to burn energy in maneuvering to the front. Amundsen is cagey and capable, and he managed to work his way to the front by the end of Lap 1.
A Climber’s Bib has been incorporated into the Tour de Ski awards this season, so the field had three mid-race opportunities to sprint for Climber’s points. The Tour continues to offer a Sprinter’s Bib, as well, so Toblach’s 15 kilometer course was regularly interrupted by point-grabbing opportunities for the greedy and the opportunistic. Klaebo took the first Sprint points just to let everyone know that he wasn’t willing to surrender anything.
Ogden moved to the front—and thirty meters off the front—at the one kilometer mark of the race, leaving commentators wondering what he was up to. FasterSkier was later able to discover that Ogden’s race-leading tactic was in response to the presence of the unofficial “Ben Ogden Fan Club” comprised mostly of former teammates from the University fo Vermont. Accompanied by the sound of a chainsaw revving in the background, Ogden strided happily forward to greet the cheering throng who gather at one event each season to bring a bit of Collegiate Ski Carnival energy to the sometimes staid World Cup.
Mass start races offer opportunities for various skiers to affect the pace, especially when there are point bonuses available: Mika Vermeulen (AUT), Hugo Lapalus (FRA), and Amundsen seemed determined to test Klaebo; he allowed occasional gaps to develop on the uphills, but always managed to close them on subsequent downhills. Amundsen continued pressing the issue on numerous climbs, increasing the pace in the Classic tracks while Klaebo was forced to herringbone outside the tracks. In the past few seasons, Klaebo hasn’t often been seen using his early-career signature “moose step” technique, but he incorporated it numerous times in Toblach to counter the attacks of his countrymen. Evidently, Klaebo had opted for less kick wax on this day, making sure that his skis would be fastest on descents and in the anticipated double-pole finish.
And as the pace continued to heat up in the final lap, Cyr began asserting himself among the leaders. He remained in the mix as the field approached the final two uphills where Klaebo simply strided away to a gap that he could easily defend down the final slope and into the finishing straightaway. On-screen commentators excitedly announced that Klaebo was chased across the finish line by Amundsen, but it was actually Valnes who stayed on Klaebo’s tails down the finishing straight. Valnes may not be a contender in the TDS overall standings (the finishing climb up Alpe Cermis is definitely not for Valnes), but he skied bravely and intelligently today in Toblach to snatch a podium finish.
For his own part, Amundsen did finish strongly (sixth) to announce his intention to defend his 2024 Tour de Ski title, but it was Klaebo who lengthened his lead at this point in the Tour. Two more distance races follow today’s race, so the battle between Amundsen and Klaebo seems likely to continue all the way to the summit of Alpe Cermis.
Men’s 15 k Mass Start RESULTS
John Teaford
John Teaford—the Managing Editor of FasterSkier — has been the coach of Olympians, World Champions, and World Record Holders in six sports: Nordic skiing, speedskating, road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, triathlon. In his long career as a writer/filmmaker, he spent many seasons as Director of Warren Miller’s annual feature film, and Producer of adventure documentary films for Discovery, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, and NBC Sports.
