A Thrilling Finish: Johannes Dale-Skjevdal Wins Pursuit in Ruhpolding While Christiansen Falls Behind

A crazy finish. Stunning. The suspense stretched to the end this Sunday during the pursuit of Ruhpolding. Alone in the lead before his two errors in the standing shot, Vetle Christiansen was joined by four men at the start of the last lap. Emilien Jacquelin was one of them. But the Frenchman finally finished 4th, as in the sprint on Saturday, behind three Norwegians, the victory going to Johannes Dale-Skjevdal ahead of Christiansen (+1″70) and Johannes Boe (+2″40), who consolidates his yellow bib .

Winner of the sprint, Christiansen had the cards in hand to do the double. The Scandinavian, revengeful after his non-selection at Oberhof, only made a mistake in the first three shots, which allowed him to present himself with an appreciable margin over the competition for the last one standing: 20″ over Tarjei and 44″ on Johannes Boe. He ended up breaking, but without completely losing his chances of victory, since his first pursuer also made two mistakes. Coming out of the ring, Christiansen remained in the lead. But with a quartet on their heels: Johannes Boe, Justus Trelow, Johannes Dale-Skjevdal and Emilien Jacquelin.

Christiansen trembled, Dale won: highlights of a chase full of twists and turns

Dale unlocks his counter

It was off for one last unbreathable ride. After a tasty observation round, the quintet exploded into the final false flat under the leadership of Boe and Dale. And the latter ended up winning in the sprint. This is his first victory of the winter, his 3rd in his career. This is already the 5th Norwegian hat-trick this season.

Despite three faults, Jacquelin confirmed his renewed form by signing a new 4th place (+10″), seven seconds from the podium. He only lacked a little juice in the last lap. Eric Perrot moved up from 16th to 9th place (+35″) despite his three laps. The young Habs is definitely in great shape: he set the 2nd skiing time, 25″ behind Martin Ponsiluoma (8th, 54 laps).

The two other French people entered finished one behind the other, Fabien Claude (4 laps, 23rd) having beaten Oscar Lombardot (2 laps, 24th) by seven seconds. Not in his mood in the relays and during the sprint (33rd), Quentin Fillon Maillet did not start. He preferred to preserve himself for the next stage, that of Antholz-Anterselva, which will begin on Thursday with a 20km.

Perrot-Jacquelin, disappointments and reasons for hope

2024-01-14 16:57:00
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