This year’s edition of Klarälvsloppet in Sweden presented a lot of action, sunshine, pole breaks and an amazing breakaway that almost lasted until the end. This 90 km Visma Ski Classics Challengers roller-ski race started in Uddeholm and continued along a bike road built on an old railroad and finished in the city of Karlstad.
Both the elite men and women started at the same time, and the pace was quite slow until the first sprint. A large group of men stayed together and the three elite women, Lina Korsgren, Team Ramudden, Astrid Øyre Slind, Team Koteng, and Britta Johansson Norgren, Lager 157 Ski Team, followed them close behind.
Eventually, the pace increased but no decisive breakaways took place until the second sprint after which Stian Hoelgaard, Team Koteng, decided to make his move. He was able to get a gap about 20-30 seconds, and he kept pushing hard all the way to the last bridge leading up to the finish line.
About a kilometer before the finish, Team Ragde Eiendom’s Andreas Nygaard positioned himself right behind Hoelgaard, but he broke his pole and lost his chance. His teammate Oskar Kardin had broken his pole earlier in the race, and he had to push extra hard to catch up with the lead group. Many other athletes faced the same fate as these two unfortunate Ragde Eiendom skiers. At the end, Team Kaffebryggeriet’s Stian Berg was the strongest sprinter followed by Emil Persson, Lager 157 Ski Team, and the aforementioned breakaway king Hoelgaard, respectively.
“It feels good to win,” the happy winner Berg declared at the finish. “And I’m a bit surprised. But I’ve been training well and I feel good about the upcoming Visma Ski Classics season. This is going to be my first year where I put my full focus on long distance skiing. Therefore, these type of races are good workouts and the distance today was long enough.”
In the women’s race, Korsgren and Øyre Slind were able to break away from Johansson Norgren, and they continued their cat and mouse game all the way to the finish. Korsgren managed to beat her opponent in an extremely tight sprint finish while Johansson Norgren finished third more than seven minutes behind the winner.
“I felt strong today,” Korsgren said with a smile on her face. “This is a good start for the new season, and I’m extremely happy about winning here. I really wanted the victory and during the race I strategized my final attack in my mind. It worked perfectly, and this builds up my confidence and I’m eagerly waiting for the winter.”
According to the rules of Visma Ski Classics Challengers series, both of the winners received 50 points for the Visma Ski Classics Pro Tour Hertz Champion competition, which means that they have now fulfilled their Challengers quota; a winner of a Challengers event is entitled to receive 50 points, which can be achieved only once in the season. The winter Season X commences with the Pro Team Tempo on November 29 and with the Individual Prologue on December 1. At the moment, the next Visma Ski Classics Challengers event is Craft Ski Marathon on January 5, 2020.
