Snow to Greet Tour de Ski Opener
It's a winter wonderland in the Swiss canton of Graubunden with more snow expected overnight as the 12th edition of the Tour de Ski gets set to start on Saturday in Lenzerheide. A strong U.S. Ski Team contingent of 11 athletes, including four past stage winners, is expected on the starting line for the opening freestyle sprint.
A huge crowd turned out for the team presentation Friday night. Thousands are expected in Lenzerheide over the weekend for three straight days of racing.
The USA is expected to be strong in Saturday's skate sprint including Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) and Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) for the women, along with Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) and Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) for the men. Randall is still wearing a boot to protect a sore foot but is having no issues skiing.
"The venue looks great now - good snow, and the courses are well set for the sprint and distance races," said U.S. Ski Team coach Jason Cork. "There is some additional snow forecast for tomorrow’s skate sprint, which could make things a bit messy." Skies are expected to clear with warmer temperatures for Sunday's classic distance races. Monday will be a skate pursuit.
"We do expect it to be a little warmer on Sunday for classic races, but not too crazy to make waxing tough," added Cork. "The team is all healthy and looking forward to getting things rolling. And the wax truck will make a huge difference in labor this year."
A lot has changed since the Tour de Ski began in the 2006-07 season and even since the U.S. Ski Team sent a lone one-person team to the Tour for the first time in 2010.
"When I first raced the Tour de Ski there was one athlete, one coach, one technician sitting three across in a cargo van," said Newell, who will be skiing in his eight Tour. "Now we have one of the most competitive teams and one of the most competitive waxing rigs. The waxing truck was designed for high stakes, high stress, back-to-back racing like we have during the Tour. We are all motivated to come together as a professional unit and show the world what we can do."
Newell blazed the way starting in the 2010 Tour. A year later, Kris Freeman was seventh overall for the men with Randall 21st. Since then, Randall, Diggins and Liz Stephen (E. Montpelier, Vt.) have all posted top-10 Tour finishes. Diggins was fifth a year ago, match the American best result of Stephen.
Over the past eight years, four Americans have won stages - Diggins, Randall, Hamilton and Sophie Caldwell (Peru, Vt.).
The entire Tour de Ski will be streamed live on OlympicChannel.com and the Olympic Channel mobile app. Saturday's opening sprint will be televised live on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA TV.