Lukas Bauer gave a decent performance in 20 km Mass Start classic, he collected bonus seconds and moved up the overall standing to the fifth place before the Final Climb on Alpe Cermis. Another Czech skier Martin Jakš kept reasonable pace and finished 12th having narrowly missed the top 10. On the ladies’ Eva Nývltová was fighting bravely over 10 km Classic and is sitting in 20th place. Ivana Janeckova improved her overall standing by one place and occupies 40th place.
“Lukas was fighting for bonus seconds, he will be working hard to defend the fifth place overall and I am convinced he will make it,” the Czech head coach Miroslav Petrasek said to www.czech-ski.com.
“It would be a small sporting miracle if Lukas caught them. Even Northug will have to give everything to capture the second place. Those two (Hellner and Kershaw) can ski together and work against both Northug and Lukas,” the coach estimates.
“Martin Jaks had a very good yesterday and will be fighting for top 10. The snow is compact and hard so we should not have problems with skis,” the coach added.
“I was looking for motivation after the unlucky stage from Cortina to Toblach but my servicemen and fans helped me to come back. I want to show that if I hadn't fell I could have been higher on the Tour,” Bauer wrote on his twitter.
“I had a god day today, I wanted to be very active and attack. I gained 37 bonus seconds. On the last climb I was having problems with grip and had to fight har, which cost me a lot of power,” Bauer described. The best Czech skier on the Tour was very happy and praised his service team. “The artificial snow was very cold and sharp, the group was going away very fast,” Bauer explained. When it comes to the Final Climb he thinks that Hellner and Kershaw should be safe. “Minute and a half on them is a very big gap. I hope to give an excellent performance; a miracle and I will try to catch up on them. I want to be fastest climber,” Bauer says.
