12:15. Just a few minutes after thewomen’sclassic sprint team qualified at , the cross-country skiers took to the track for their first competition of the cross-country skiing world cup weekend in Cogne (Italy). Erik Valnes and Even Northug came second and sixth respectively in the prologue, putting their Norwegian team in the lead.
Behind them, the Swiss team of Janik Riebli and Valerio Grond, winners of the first heat, were second, ahead of an impressive Czech team of Ludek Seller and Ondrej Cerny, twelfth and third at the finish. A few tenths further back, the first French pairing of Jules Chappaz and Richard Jouve took fifth place.
On the other hand, Rémi Bourdin and Renaud Jay, sixteenth in this qualifying round and the first to be eliminated on the day, were disappointed. The two Frenchmen missed out on the finals by just over a second.
Read also
- Cogne: Kerttu Niskanen and Jasmi Joensuu win the classic sprint team qualifier, Mélissa Gal and Léna Quintin finish tenth
- The full programme for the Cogne stage, the eighth stage of the World Cup season
- Seventeen Frenchmen selected for the World Cup in Cogne
