The Tour Is Won on the Alpe

Oh, man. The Final Climb on the Alpe Cermis tomorrow is going to be pretty exciting - just the sort of stage that should conclude the Tour de Ski.

On the men's side, I can't see Cologna doing anything but finishing first (becoming the first triple champion of the Tour de Ski), but I'm very eager to see the fight behind him for third - or maybe second, if Northug fades. He's only 40-some seconds up on Hellner and Kershaw, who demonstrated their Northug-hunting skills in Thursday's point-to-point race. I'm picking that pair to finish 1-2 on the stage, ahead of Bauer.

The women's race will be quite a bit more interesting. Bjørgen and Kowalczyk are going to have a heavyweight bout for first. With any luck, it'll continue right up to the finish line, but I think Kowalcyzk's going to open it up low on the slopes and take a decent lead to the summit. Behind, Johaug has more than a minute on Kalla in fourth, but I will be interested to see if the Norwegian can shake off her recent bad form and win the stage again.

Here are my picks for the stage podium:

And by the way, here's how I predicted the final standings for the whole Tour: