By Teemu Virtanen
Marcialonga, the sixt stage of the Visma Ski Classics Pro Tour, starts tomorrow at 7:50 am CET when the women take off to their 70 km long journey, and they are followed by the men at 8:00 am CET. The fast-paced race is expected to have a lot of tactical play, and the field in the men’s and women’s races is quite open.
The course has a sprint competition point in Predazzo at 46 km and one Climb point at the finish, the final Cascata Hill. The points are calculated according to the fastest time up the hill instead of the first skier reaching the top as in regular climb check points.
Last weekend’s winners Chris Andre Jespersen and Astrid Øyre Slind, both from Team Koteng, are strong favorites to win the race tomorrow due to their impressive performances at La Diagonela.
“Marcialonga is very different from La Diagonela,” Astrid says a day before the race. “I prefer a harder course, and downhill skiing isn’t really my strong suit. Of course, I would love to win the race as I haven’t been able to conquer any of the big ones yet; Marcialonga, Vasaloppet or Birkebeinerrennet. But I know for sure that tt will be tough race tomorrow!”
In the men’s race, other possible podium skiers include Team Ragde Eiendom’s Petter Eliassen, last year’s winner, Andreas Nygaard, second in 2019, and Tord Asle Gjerdalen, three-time Marcialonga winner in the past, two-time stage winner this season, Emil Persson, Lager 157 Ski Team, and Aleksey Shemiakin, Russian Winter Team, who finished third at La Diagonela.
“I don’t feel as strong as last year,” Petter admits when getting ready for action. “Tactically, it will be a different race as there are so many great skiers who could win this, and I’m most likely not going to do the ‘dirty work’ as I did last year. Chris Andre, Andreas and Tord Asle will be strong tomorrow, and if Sjur Røthe and Dario Cologna recover from today’s World Cup race, they can be on the podium as well.”
Besides the two World Cup skiers that Petter mentions, there are a couple of other interesting male skiers standing at the start line tomorrow morning; Andrew Musgrave, Team Koteng, Petter Northug from Norway, and Alexander Legov, Eugeniy Dementiev and Nikita Kryukov from Russia.
There are at least three potential podium skiers who are unable to race tomorrow. Ari Luusua, Vltava Fund Ski Team, has fallen sick, and Russian Winter Team’s Ermil Vokuev and Alexandr Grebenko have other engagements that they are obligated to attend.
In the women’s race, Lager 157 Ski Team’s Britta Johansson Norgren, who won last year, will challenge Øyre Slind, while Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes, Team Koteng, and Katerina Smutná, ED System Bauer Team, have a great chance to be on the podium tomorrow.
“Last weekend was really tough for me,” Britta recalls her tough race in Switzerland. “But I was able to improve towards the end, and that gives me confidence for tomorrow as well. You never know what kind of a race Marcialonga is going to be. And the game can change quickly when the guys catch us up. This race is just a wonderful experience, and it meant a lot to me when I won it last year.”
The weather forecast predicts clouds in the area, temperature around zero in the morning and light wind about 1 m/s.
