Kläbo triumphs — Benjamin Moser finishes Tour de Ski in top 10

Benjamin Moser kept himself inside the top ten at the 20th Tour de Ski, finishing the season's first big highlight in tenth place. The Tyrolean successfully defended his position in the final 10.6 km mass-start race up the Alpe Cermis on Sunday. In the stage result he placed 20th and lost just under one and a half minutes to Norwegian stage winner Mattis Stenshagen. As expected, compatriot Johannes Høsflot Klæbo secured his fifth Tour title.

The superstar set a new record mark with the victory. Moser could be satisfied: he finished about half a minute back from Klæbo and around a minute behind Stenshagen, placing twelfth on the day. The ÖSV athlete had really announced himself during the Tour: on New Year’s Eve in Toblach he took his first World Cup podium with a second place in the new 5-km heat race with mass start, and he went into the final weekend in Val di Fiemme ranked eighth overall. In the classic sprint on Saturday he could manage only 54th place, partly due to equipment problems.

Before the 28-year-old Moser, only the now-ill Mika Vermeulen from Austria had previously reached the Tour de Ski top ten among Austrian men — two years ago the Styrian was tenth and last year even second. Last year’s seventh-place finisher Teresa Stadlober starts the women's race up the Alpe Cermis at 15:30 (live on ORF 1) as fifth overall. Stenshagen finished the Tour 30.1 seconds behind Klæbo in second place; Harald Østberg Amundsen rounded out the podium for Norway in third (+1:08.2). Moser's final deficit is 2:44.9 minutes.