Today and Sunday 2nd December first Visma Ski Classics races in Livigno
Britta Johansson Norgren in great form lead to success the Team Lager 157
Tomorrow 1st December “La Sgambeda” of 30 km in skating reserved to amateurs
Sunday Individual Prologue Ski Classics first tidbit of the season
157 is a prime number, and today we just had the confirmation. Today in Livigno began the Visma Ski Classics show with the Pro Team Prologue race at the Livigno’s Nordic Ski Center, 15 km in classical technique with men that anticipated the start of women, who then "continued" the ride of male colleagues in the pursuit. The decisive times at the arrival were then the placings of the first three classified males and women.
The victory went to the Swedish 'Lager 157 Ski Team' thanks to the Britta Johansson Norgren show, already at her best form and ready to conquer the entire circuit for the fourth consecutive year, good to complete the work of Marcus Johansson, Anton Karlsson and Emil Persson. Second place for the Norwegian Team Koteng, with Astrid Slind crossing the line not so later than Norgren, while the men reached the finish line with Chris Andre Jespersen, John Kristian Dahl and Stian Hoelgaard, former best young of the challenge and now fearful cross-country skier.
On the lowest step of the podium the Czech eD system Bauer Team of Katerina Smutna, decisive in the final rush, Alexis Jeannerod, Jan Srail and Ilya Chernousov: "Has been hard for me, I'll try to compete to the best on Sunday", declared at the end of the race the former winner of the Marcialonga of Fiemme and Fassa. Disappointed the Team Ragde, "saved" by Kari Gjeitnes Vikhagen, while the Team Trentino Robinson led by Mauro Brigadoi placed at 21st absolute position. A cold day but not too much in "Little Tibet", those present in the last "Sgambeda" will remember temperatures amply under the zero, while this year we are comfortably closer to zero degrees.
The Pro Team Prologue is a sort of "tidbit" of what will be the Visma Ski Classics season, a parade of all the teams present, started with the men teams with a gap of two minutes from each other, and ended by the women which started based on the gap accumulated by their male teammates. And, speaking about men's teams, a plaudit goes to Team Kaffebryggerlet composed by Magnus Vesterheim, Vetle Thyli and Torgeir Skare Thygesen, arrived at the finish line with eight seconds ahead of the "colleagues" of the Lager 157 Ski Team, but since they didn’t have a women competitor within the team were not included in the general ranking.
The real protagonist, however, has been Britta Johansson Norgren, that started and finished alone and who took advantage of the usual burning season starts: "I felt good today, but at this altitude is not easy, Astrid was really strong. The last lap was tough but we did it, congratulations to all our team. It will be hard to win every race, but I expect to improve the season finale ". The most satisfied of the race track was the second classified Astrid Oyre Slind: "It was perfect, a pleasure to race here, it will be fun on Sunday with the individual prologue". Mauro Brigadoi didn’t get much upset for this team test, the team aims to grow and to help the young athletes to grow: "Has been difficult today, Ferrari and I are skilled while the young must improve, but they did well. Here I could catch one of the best results of the season, but anything might happen". While Francesco Ferrari says: "The condition was good, there were four of us with two young teammate who did a good race, we hope that Sunday will go better than today".
A day of well-deserved rest for the competitors of Visma Ski Classics, and tomorrow in Livigno we move to free technique with "Sgambeda" race of 30 km (at 11:00 am) to boast a good number of registered atlethes, not counting the late registration (is still possible to register from 7:30 am to 9 am), while on Sunday the individual challenges of Visma Ski Classics will go on stage, where presumably will rise to the chair those who "held back" in this first season contest, Tord Asle Gjerdalen above all.
Info: www.lasgambeda.it
Download TV videos:
Pro Team Prologue 15 km CT
1 Lager 157 Ski Team 00:40:10.00; 2 Team Koteng 00:40:20.00; 3 eD system Bauer Team 00:41:55.00; 4 Team ParkettPartner 00:41:56.00; 5 Team Ragde Eiendom 00:43:22.00; 6 Team Jobstation Rossignol 00:43:28.00; 7 E-Liberty Ski Team 00:43:28.00; 8 Russian Marathon Team 00:43:38.00; 9 Team Ramudden 00:44:16.00; 10 Vltava Fund Ski Team 00:44:17.00
SEARCH ACCOMMODATION