Tour de Ski: Benjamin Moser shines again with top result

Benjamin Moser continued his strong performance in the Tour de Ski as the New Year began. The 28-year-old from Tyrol, who had taken his first-ever podium in the 5 km heat mass start on New Year’s Eve, placed eighth in Thursday’s 20-km pursuit in Toblach and again finished in the top 10.

Moser remains inside the top ten overall, 1:01 behind the leader. The stage win went convincingly to Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who celebrated his 103rd World Cup victory and arrives as the clear leader at the next stop: the sprint on Saturday in Val di Fiemme. Klæbo is targeting a record fifth overall Tour de Ski title and leads the general classification by 51 seconds over countryman Mattis Stenshagen.

For Austria the result from Moser is especially encouraging: with the team’s top man Mika Vermeulen absent through illness, the Tyrolean has stepped up and established himself among the World Cup elite at the season’s first major event.

The Tour continues with the sprint in Val di Fiemme, where Klæbo will be the man to beat as he chases another overall triumph.