COOP FIS Tour de Ski performance by Le Gruyère AOP
Dec 29, 2020·Cross-Country
On New Years day, the 15th edition of the COOP FIS Tour de Ski performance by le Gruyère AOP begins in Val Müstair, Switzerland. Three tour stops with a total of eight race days are on schedule from 1st to 10th January 2021.
Date & venue
Format
Points according to Tour de Ski rules (from page 37)
Friday, 1st January
Val Müstair
Sprint F
Bonus seconds for top 30
Points Tour de Ski point standing for top 10
Saturday, 2nd January
Val Müstair
10km/15km C Mass start
Intermediate Sprint points after one lap for top 10
Sunday, 3rd January
Val Müstair
10km/15km F Pursuit
Tuesday, 5th January
Toblach
10km/15km F
Fastest times from start to 1st intermediate for top 10
Wednesday, 6th January
Toblach
10km/15km Pursuit
Friday, 8th January
Val di Fiemme
10km/15km C Mass start
Bonus seconds at first intermediate Sprint for top 10
Points Tour de Ski point standing after one lap for top 10
Saturday, 9th January
Val di Fiemme
Sprint C
Bonus seconds for top 30
Points Tour de Ski point standing top 10
Sunday, 10th January
Val di Fiemme
Final Climb Mass start
Points Tour de Ski point standing at intermediate
Sprint point in the stadium and at the bottom of Alpe Cermis for top 10
Despite challenges in organizing a Tour schedule with the respective Covid-19 restrictions, all organizers have set up approved and safe health protocols which are implemented in every aspect around the event. One major point is to hold all events without spectators and to limit the number of people on site. Nevertheless, the restrictions shall have no impact on the quality of the races.
Val Müstair
The home town of Dario Cologna is part of the Tour de Ski for the fifth time! Under the special circumstances, no official aniversary can be held but nevertheless, with the "Val Müstair Trophy", the organizers came up with a special to fight for during the first stage. The "Val Müstair Trophy" - an additional prize money of CHF 5'000 per gender will be won by the athlete leading the womens - respectively mens Tour de Ski ranking after the first three races in Val Müstair.
The Sprint F course will be spiced up by special elements such as banked turns, downhills, a jump and waves which promise an exciting start into the new year.
Toblach
All eyes on Toblach for the Distance lovers. With perfect snow conditions, the South Tyrolean tour stop provided a solid base already throughout December for the upcoming world class events to be tested.
Val di Fiemme
The grand finals of the COOP FIS Tour de Ski performance by le Gruyère AOP are traditionally taking place in Fiemme. The FIS Cross-Country family is looking forward to a Distance and Sprint competition before heading up to the prestigious Final Climb to Alpe Cermis where the winner of the Tour de Ski will be crowned.
Preview Women's Tour de Ski
This will be the 15th edition of the Tour de Ski since it was held for the first time in the 2006/07 season. Virpi Kuitunen won the inaugural edition.
Norwegian athletes have won the women's Tour de Ski in each of the previous seven seasons: Therese Johaug (2013/14, 2015/16 and 2019/20), Marit Bjørgen (2014/15), Heidi Weng (2016/17, 2017/18) and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (2018/19). Norway will not participate in this edition.
This season, there will be guaranteed a first-time winner of the Tour de Ski, as Charlotte Kalla (victorious in 2008) is not part of the Swedish team for this edition.
Kowalczyk has won the Tour de Ski overall classification a record-four times. Johaug follows on three wins.
Kowalczyk and Johaug (both 14) share the record for most stage wins in the Tour de Ski.
Val Müstair will host the opening stages of the Tour de Ski for the second time, after the 2016/17 edition.
Toblach hosted Tour de Ski stages in 11 of the last 12 seasons, the only exception in this period was the 2016/17 edition.
Val di Fiemme is the only venue to have been part of the Tour de Ski on all previous 14 occasions.
Athletes
Rosie Brennan (377 points) will start the Tour de Ski as the current leader in the overall and distance World Cup.
Brennan could become the first non-European winner of the Tour de Ski.
Brennan's best result in her previous four participations in the Tour de Ski is her 15th-place finish in the most recent edition.
In that 3-Days Tour, she recorded her first and single podium spot in a Tour stage, third in the 10km pursuit freestyle on 29 November.
Jessica Diggins (3rd in Tour de Ski and 2nd in World Cup Final, both in 2017/18) and Sadie Maubet Bjornsen (3rd in the 2017/18 World Cup Final) are the only USA women to have reached the podium in one of the five Tours.
Sorina finished second in the overall standings, despite not having claimed a podium place in one of the three stages.
In each of the previous 14 seasons of the Tour de Ski the overall winner managed to win at least one stage in that specific edition.
Sorina could become the first Russian woman to win one of the Tours (3-Days Tour, Ski Tour, Ski Tour Canada, Tour de Ski and World Cup Final).
Natalia Nepryaeva finished second in the Tour de Ski in both 2018/19 and 2019/20. The only other woman to finish on the podium in the last two editions was Norway's Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (winner in 2018/19, third in 2019/20).
In the women's Tour de Ski, no athlete has finished on the podium in the final classification more than twice without ever winning.
Ebba Andersson (3rd) and Frida Karlsson (4th) finished in the top four of the 3-Days-Tour in November.
Andersson finished on the podium of a Tour for the second time, after her second place in the 2018/19 3-Days Tour.
Sweden has won the women's Tour de Ski just once: Charlotte Kalla in 2007/08.
Karlsson (21) is the leader in the U23 World Cup standings. The only woman to win one of the Tours before her 25th birthday was Charlotte Kalla in the 2007/08 Tour de Ski. Kalla was 20 years and 168 days old when she triumphed.
Jessica Diggins became the first USA woman to finish on the podium of the Tour de Ski, when she finished third in 2017/18.
Diggins' other podium finish in one of the Tours was her second place in the 2017/18 World Cup Final in Falun. This is the best result for USA in the final standings of a Tour.
Women representing Switzerland have never finished higher than an eighth place in one of the Tours: eight-place finishes for Natalie von Siebenthal in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 Tour de Ski.
Nadine Fähndrich eyes to become the second Swiss woman to claim a stage victory in the Tour de Ski, after Laurien van der Graaff won the sprint freestyle event in Lenzerheide on 30 December 2017.
Preview Men's Tour de Ski
This will be the 15th edition of the Tour de Ski since it was held for the first time in 2006/07. There have been nine different winners of the Tour de Ski.
Both Norway and Switzerland have won the final classification four times. Russia celebrated three overall wins, with Czech Republic (2) and Germany (1) taking the remaining victories.
Dario Cologna (4), Martin Johnsrud Sundby (2) and Lukáš Bauer (2) are the only men to have won the Tour de Ski more than once.
Petter Northug (13) holds the men's record for most stage wins in the Tour de Ski. Sergey Ustiugov is in second place on nine stage triumphs.
Val Müstair will host the opening stages of the Tour de Ski for the second time, after the 2016/17 edition. Ustiugov took the first stage, the sprint freestyle on 31 December 2016.
Toblach hosted Tour de Ski stages in 11 of the last 12 seasons (including 2020/21), the only exception in this period was the 2017/18 edition.
Val di Fiemme is the only venue to have been part of the Tour de Ski on all previous 14 occasions.
Athletes
Alexander Bolshunov could become the second man to win the Tour de Ski in successive seasons, after Dario Cologna achieved this in 2011-2012.
Bolshunov could join Cologna (4 times), Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Lukáš Bauer (both 2) as the male athletes to have won the Tour de Ski on multiple occasions.
Last year, Bolshunov claimed just one stage victory: the 15km pursuit on New Year's Day in Toblach (stage 4). This marks his first and sole stage win in the Tour de Ski.
Andrew Young and Andrew Musgrave hope to write history for Great Britain, as they could become the first British winners of a World Cup event in this sport.
Both athletes have finished runners-up in a World Cup event before: Young in the sprint freestyle in Dresden on 19 December and Musgrave in the 15km pursuit freestyle in the 2016/17 World Cup Final in Quebec.
Britain's highest rank in the final classification in one of the five Tours is the sixth place by Musgrave in this season's 3-Days Tour. Young never finished higher than 14th before (14th in the 3-Days Tour in November).
A total of 11 different countries have claimed a podium spot in one of the aforementioned Tours (men's events). The last 'new' country to record a top-three finish in a Tour was Finland in 2016/17: third place by Matti Heikkinen in the 3-Days Tour.
Russia have four men in the top five of the 2020/21 distance World Cup: Alexander Bolshunov (1st), Andrey Melnichenko (2nd), Ivan Yakimushkin (4th) and Alexey Chervotkin (5th). Andrew Musgrave (3rd) is the exception.
Federico Pellegrino could become the second Italian male skier to finish on the podium in one of the five Tours, after Georgio Di Centa's third places in both the Tour de Ski and World Cup Final during the 2007/08 season.
Pellegrino's personal best result in one of the Tours is his sixth-place finish in the 2018/19 World Cup Final in Quebec. He did not finish the Tour de Ski in any of his previous nine participations.
Pellegrino has won two stages in the Tour de Ski, both in the sprint freestyle event (2014/15 and 2015/16).
This season, Pellegrino claimed 235 of his 270 World Cup points in the sprint.
The only Cross-Country skier from France to win one of the five Tours is Vincent Vittoz, who emerged victorious in the 2007/08 World Cup Final in Bormio.
The best French result for the Tour de Ski is a fourth-place finish by Manificat in 2016/17.
