CROSS COUNTRY. TOUR DE SKI. It's now 100 days to go until the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear will have its 5th edition starting in Oberhof on 31st December 2010 and concluding in Val di Fiemme on 9th January 2011. And that means it's time to update you on the activities we've undertaken in the last weeks, including a visit to all the Tour sites.

Oberhof, Oberstdorf, Toblach/Cortina and Val di Fiemme, those are the four Tour sites, all well known for Nordic Skiing with passion and with a long history of Cross-Country on their territory. It was the wish from the beginning of the Tour idea to include the best developed resorts and Cross-Country sites. We are happy to have Oberstdorf back in the Tour family, first of all it's a beautiful resort and fulfils all our criteria. A second big point, we can improve the logistics for all involved partners, and spend less time on the road, and have a more direct line from north to south. After the implementation of the "A to B" stage from Cortina to Toblach last season, we learned our lessons and the stage will be even a bigger highlight this year. An additional helicopter will allow us to be more flexible on air and able to switch between the air cams, cams on the snowmobile and fixed cams. And on the last day, we will have a popular race on the Final Climb. Did you ever wish to ski up to Alpe Cermis? In the morning of 9th January 2011, anyone will have the chance to ski on the original slope, starting at 10:00 h. The race is limited to 200 persons, first come first served. Our Italian friends from Val di Fiemme have created a new brand: Rampa di Campioni, so welcome ski fans!

Four years ago, Tour de Ski was no brand. After these four years, we are now really happy about the interest and enhanced TV figures. Who would have believed, a no brand event four years ago would reach a TV audience of 460 million viewers after just a view years (data based on IFM research)? No other annual winter event can show such a statistic. But we are not done yet. We still see further development potential. The FIS Tour de Ski already has had an impact on ski events for young skiers. Youth training and competition programs have been adapted, competitions and training skills effecting broad range of skills and combinations have attracted new talents.
We are happy about your attention, and are sure that the 5th edition of the Tour de Ski will again deliver 10 days of great celebration of Nordic Skiing.

Yours Jürg Capol
one of the Tour Fathers
FIScrosscountry.com
Wednesday 22 September 2010

FIS Tour de Ski News

Everybody agrees that the FIS Tour de Ski, which will be held from 31st December 2010 to 9th January 2011, is a great development in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. However, it is still a growing child that needs support and guidelines in order to further develop. For the fifth edition, the FIS Cross-Country Committee led by Vegard Ulvang reviewed the rules and made some small adaptations at the FIS Congress in Antalya (TUR) last spring. The organizers, too, have taken great strides in developing their events for this season.

A small but important improvement for the upcoming season is that athletes will collect bonus points by winning the finish sprints in handicap start competitions except in the final stage to Alpe Cermis. The additional bonus seconds for the handicap races in Oberhof and Toblach were implemented to have an additional motivation to fight for the podium positions.

In the Tour calendar there is a notable change. Oberstdorf is back as the second Tour venue right after Oberhof from 2nd to 3rd January 2011 with a sprint and a pursuit at the 2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships venue. In Toblach, last year we had a premiere with an "A to B" race from Cortina d'Ampezzo to Toblach for the men and from Tre Cime to Toblach for the ladies. This event will again take place on 6th January but, due to logistics, only the men will start in Cortina to tackle the 35 km distance to Toblach whilst the ladies will compete over 15 km with both start and finish in Toblach.

As already mentioned in the article entitled "FIS Tour de Ski - 100 days to go", the organizers from Val di Fiemme have implemented in their program a new special entertainment number for Cross-Country and Final Climb fans. On the final day of the Tour de Ski 2011, on Sunday, January 9th at 10:00h, 200 ski enthusiasts will have a unique chance to race the final stage of the Tour de Ski just shortly before the stars fight for victory. Some spots are still available so try & tackle the challenge as well.

Tour 2010/2011 facts and figures

The fifth edition of the Viessmann FIS Tour de Ski performance by Craft Sportswear will be held from 31st December 2010 to 9th December 2011 with two stages each in Oberhof (31.12/1.1), Oberstdorf (2.1/3.1), Toblach/Cortina d'Ampezzo (5.1./6.1) and Val di Fiemme (8.1./9.1.). To have an overview of the event we have summarized a few interesting facts for you:

•Prize money: All in all for, 1'055'000 CHF (currently 800'000 Euro) will be paid out during these 10 days for both genders
•The winner gets 400 World Cup points for the overall victory. In addition half of the World Cup points will be awarded stage by stage which means that a maximum of 800 points can be accrued by winning all stages and the overall Tour ranking. In the overall World Cup, the athletes can win a total of 2860 points (ladies) respectively 2920 points (men)
•Ladies can win a total of 255 bonus seconds (4min 15 seconds) whilst the men can win 345 bonus seconds (5 min 45 seconds)
•The entire Tour de Ski family will drive from Oberhof to Val di Fiemme during these ten days which means 932 km and, in good weather, 10:17h on the road; with start and finish at Munich airport the total will be 1609 km and 17:03h
•58,9 km is the minimum distance for the ladies on skis during the event (more kilometer will be added if an athlete makes the sprint finals), while the men will ski at least 105.15km
•the athletes will have on average 15 pairs of skating skis and 20 pairs of classic skis with them

FIScrosscountry.com
Wednesday 22 September 2010

New multi-stage-event in Kuusamo: Ruka Triple

The Tour de Ski goes into its fifth year, the World Cup final was held as a "Mini Tour" since spring 2008. This season, to further improve the World Cup calendar, another multi-stage event will bring the focus to Cross-Country Skiing at the very beginning of the season. For the first time, a three-day multi-stage event called Ruka Triple will take place at the Nordic Opening in Kuusamo. With a great program for spectators and athletes, the early season will celebrate its first highlight.
The schedule for this event includes a classic sprint on Friday, an interval start competition over 5 km (ladies) and 10 km (men) in classical technique on Saturday, and a handicap start over 10km (ladies) and 15 km (men) in free technique with a challenging uphill and downhill on Sunday.
To entertain the spectators that will attend the first edition of Ruka Triple, the organizers will offer a festival area including various programs close to the cross-country tracks. Do try & come join the event!

FIScrosscountry.com
Wednesday 22 September 2010