Stadlober climbs to second overall at Tour de Ski finale

Teresa Stadlober has climbed to second place in the overall standings of the Tour de Ski after the final mass-start uphill race to Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme. The Salzburg native was fourth on the day and moved up from fifth to finish the Tour as runner-up.

After six stages only the dominant American Jessie Diggins stood ahead of Stadlober in the general classification. In the battle for second place Stadlober held off Norway’s Heidi Weng by about 14 seconds. Stadlober used the closing 3.7-kilometre climb with 420 metres of vertical gain to play to her strengths and secured her first podium in the Tour overall. Her earlier results in this edition included two podiums in Toblach and a strong showing in the final skating race.

Day winner Karoline Simpson-Larsen of Norway finished 17.5 seconds ahead of Stadlober. In the overall standings Stadlober was 2:17 behind winner Jessie Diggins.

On the men’s side Johannes Høsflot Klæbo clinched the Tour title for a record fifth time. Klæbo said he will take some recovery time and then do a training camp at altitude ahead of the Olympics. The uphill final was won by Klæbo’s Norwegian teammate Mattis Stenshagen, who gained about a minute on Klæbo in the stage.