Cross-country skier Friedrich Moch came back strongly after his weak start on the third stage of the Tour de Ski and narrowly missed out on a top 10 placement.
Last year’s surprise runner-up came in twelfth place over 20 km freestyle on New Year’s Eve in Toblach, thus achieving his third-best result of the season.
At the finish of the individual start race, the 24-year-old was 1:07 minutes behind defending champion Harald Östberg Amundsen (Norway), who won ahead of his compatriot Simen Hegstad Krüger (+21.2 seconds) and the Briton Andrew Musgrave (+28.4). .
At the last split, around four kilometers from the finish, Moch was still in seventh place, but after that he had no further trouble.
Klaebo defends overall lead
The second best German was Janosch Brugger in 17th place. The 27-year-old was second in the first two intermediate times and collected a few bonus seconds.
With fifth place, Norway’s top star Johannes Hösflot Klaebo successfully defended his overall lead, but is only 16 seconds ahead of Amundsen. Moch moved up to 22nd place, 2:20 minutes behind.
Pursuit races will take place on New Year’s Day at the end of the first tour stop in South Tyrol. From Friday, the last three stages will go to Val di Fiemme, the venue for the 2026 Olympic cross-country skiing competitions.