(Sportcom) – Antoine Cyr shone in Friday’s classic sprint where he finished sixth. Cyr proved once again on Saturday in Val di Fiemme, Italy, that he belongs to the world elite of cross-country skiing by doing it again, this time with an all-out battle at the end of the race, where he ended up finishing fourth in the classic over-15 mass start Kilometre.
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The Quebecer stayed between 16th and 11th throughout the course, but was only able to put his strategy into action with just over three laps to go. Cyr found himself in the front group, holding off Italy’s Francesco De Fabiani for the bronze medal until the very last second.
The photo finish was necessary to decide between the two men and it was ultimately the Italian who edged Cyr by a tenth of a second.
“I am very happy to confirm for the second day in a row that I find myself among the best. The tiredness of the previous day’s sprint could be felt. I drove lap after lap and the race came alive on lap four. I started my acceleration and started overtaking at that point,” said Cyr.
“I used my strength in the last moments of the race, I was fifth or sixth going into the final straight. It’s safe to say I was disappointed not to finish on the podium, but I can’t be disappointed with a fourth place finish at the end of the day. I am proud of what I have achieved.”
This is the best result in the career of the 24-year-old athlete, who had never found himself in the top 10 in an individual race before the start of the World Cup in Val di Fiemme.
“It’s a course that’s really good for me, I’m in good shape at the moment too, it looks like everything is set up for me to be successful here. The experience is also starting to make itself felt,” he explained.
Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won his sixth gold medal in six races since the Tour de Ski began, while compatriot Paal Goldberg (+0.4 seconds) finished second.
If anyone had told Antoine Cyr earlier in the day that he would be fourth, 1.4 seconds behind Klaebo, would they have believed him?
“Impossible, I never would have believed it,” laughed Cyr, waking up this morning feeling the pain of yesterday’s race. I go there day by day for the future and who knows where it will take me in the future.
For his part, Olivier Léveillé was 31st (+1 minute 2.1 seconds).
The day before, Antoine Cyr jokingly mentioned to Sportcom that he would like to make one more spectacular jump in the preliminary overall ranking of the Tour de Ski. His wish finally came true as his fourth place finish of the day saw him move up from 11th to 8th overall with one more stage to go.
Katherine Stewart-Jones also signs the best individual result of her career
Katherine Stewart-Jones also competed in the classic 15km mass start early in the morning. After managing her strength well throughout the distance, the Quebecer finished 10th (+36.2 seconds), a career best finish.
“I’m very happy! I thought today was going to be a good run for me. Tiredness is setting in but it was an opportunity and I felt great,” said Stewart-Jones.
“I wanted to remain calm at the beginning because I suspected from the outset that the group would not split up. I didn’t use too much power and found myself in the right spot on breakaways. I knew the result was good as I approached the finish line, but when I saw that it was a top 10 I was really happy.
The German Katharina Hennig won the highest award at this event ahead of the Swede Frida Karlsson (+0.7 seconds) and the Finn Kerttu Niskanen (+0.8 seconds).
With one final race at the Tour de Ski, Stewart-Jones currently sits 18th in the provisional standings and believes he can improve on that placement on the final day of the activity.
“I want to move up the rankings as much as possible, it’s going to be a big climb tomorrow and there’s a good chance I could move up a few ranks. I’ve never ridden a race like this but in normal times I’m good on the climbs, we’ll see what happens tomorrow,” concluded Stewart-Jones.