Tour de Ski Prologue Picks

The Tour de Ski prologue was as interesting as I hoped. In the women's race, Petra used her sprint power to take a convincing victory by 2.1s over Korosteleva and three times that much over Kowalczyk. Miriam Goessner of Germany held the top spot for a long time and eventually wound up a surprising fifth, with Arianna Follis in between. Petra's gonna be great in the classical pursuit tomorrow. In the men's race, Northug confirmed his form with a narrow 0.8s victory over Marcus Hellner, 2.0s up on Teichmann. Italian Loris Frasnelli - my choice for best-named non-Estonian racer on the Tour - slipped into sixth, just behind Cologna, who's obviously in good shape, and Shiraev, who has temporarily replaced Legkov as the bEst-PerfOrming Russian.

Recapping my picks and the actual finishers:

men's 3.7km freestyle prologue
1. Northug - Northug
2. Legkov (actual: 9) - Hellner
3. Teichmann - Teichmann

women's 2.8km freestyle prologue
1. Nystad (12) - Majdic
2. Kowalczyk (3) - Korosteleva
3. Follis (4) - Kowalczyk

Tomorrow's classic-technique pursuit races - 10k for women, 15k for men - will be run over the same course as today's races and seeded according to the finishes in the prologue. Northug will have a six-second head start on Hellner, +12s on Tiechmann, +17s on Cologna. Only a great classic skier will be able to catch him (Teichmann, Cologna, maybe even Bauer at +22s or Legkov at +25s), but no one will be able to make it stick. Petter should lead the TdS from wire to wire. In the women's race, Majdic has +7s on Korosteleva, +16s on Kowalczyk. The Russian will drop back, not preferring classical races, but I expect the Pole to come up at challenge Majdic for the win. Picks:

men's 15m classic pursuit (handicap start)
1. Northug
2. Cologna
3. Teichmann

women's 10m classic pursuit (handicap start)
1. Kowalczyk
2. Majdic
3. Saarinen (coming up from 6th, +30s)