Already for the fifth time, the FIS Cross-Country World Cup presented by Viessmann will visit the French town of La Clusaz (FRA, Haute Savoie), the hometown of the top skier Vincent Vittoz, from 18th to 19th of Decemer.
Johan Olsson (SWE), Axel Teichmann and Jens Filbrich are recovered from sickness but will not be at the start yet in La Clusaz. Franz Göring and Tom Reichelt are also not here. Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Tobias Angerer take a competition break and Petra Majdic is preparing herself in Toblach for the Tour de Ski.
"We had heavy snowfall today and got a lot of natural snow up on the course area of “Les Confins”. Tomorrow sun is expected and we are looking forward to see the great winter landscape of La Clusaz. The 2,5 course is well prepared and ideal as well wide enough for a good mass start races. Nearly the entire course can be seen from the stadium and nice up- and downhills are waiting for the spectators. Unfortunately the local hero Vincent Vittoz will be not at the start due to an injury but still the French have a strong men team that will bring a lot of spectators to this unique venue. The intermediate sprints, 2 for ladies and 4 for men will create as well an additional motivation for the athletes as the top three can always win 15 – 10 and 5 points. In total tomorrow the ladies can win maxium 130 World Cup points and the men 160 World Cup points," explaines Jürg Capol.
For the French team it will be the special race tomorrow, first and only World Cup on the home soil. “I am looking forward to the 30 km Mass start race,” said home favourite Maurice Manificat. “I like the course and will give all infront of the home crowd, a lot of my friends and family will come to cheer me. For my tactic we will see if I will go for the intermediate sprints or not, I did it last time in Oslo and it was not a success so maybe I will see what my legs says tomorrow. We had today heavy snowfall, I like that – I reminds me on the conditions in Falun where I had a top spot at the end,” he quoted.
Marit Bjoergen will again be among the top favorites for victory. “For me again the goal will be the podium. It is a challenging 2,5 km lap but it is also a nice course. I am not sure if I will fight for the bonus World Cup points in the intermediate sprints, I will see tomorrow what my tactic will be,” said Marit Bjoergen.
Shortened Course
Please note that due to the snow situation all the races will take place on the 2,5 km course. The intermediate sprints for World Cup points are for ladies at km 3,75 and 8,75 (laps 2 & 4) – for men we have in total four – at km 6,25, 13,75, 21,25 and 28,75 (laps 3,6,9,12) You can download the file from the fiscrosscountry.com website.
