Nordic Skiingworld cup 2022/2023
fisi.org
After Beitostolen, here is the young Trentino rider still up front with 3rd place in the classic Sprint at Lago di Tesero. The Valle d'Aosta admits: "Today it was difficult to do more, we'll see what energy I still have tomorrow and then on Cermis".
Friday 6 January 2023 7 minutes reading time
Another podium for the Italian cross-country skiing, in a Tour de Ski that sees the men's national team as a great protagonist not only with Federico Pellegrino, still in full battle for the top 3 final, but also with a boy who is now a certainty in this competition format .
Simone Mocellini, in fact, becomes the first blue ever to manage to collect two podiums in a sprint in classic technique in the same season: after the second place obtained in Beitostolen, here is the third in Lago di Tesero, in the first round of the final three days in Val di Fiemme. The Trentino bearer of the Fiamme Gialle, after a semifinal race at a monstrous pace, was fished out with the third time as a lucky loser and, just like in Norway, he let loose in the decisive moment, signing an amazing comeback on the very long final straight to go to take the second podium of his career in the World Cup, behind an unreachable Klaebo and Halfvarsson.
“I suffered a lot in the semifinal - Mocellini told the FISI press office immediately after the race - I did a nice straight and it went well. Tonight I had hardly slept at all due to tension, but that's okay... hoping it happens more often! I'm over the moon, now we have to confirm ourselves and do other good races: head to Livigno then the races in France and finally the World Championships, which are the goal of the season.
We'll see from here to a month how I'll be, maybe even better than this. Klaebo was really superior, if one day I ever go head to head with him it will be great to challenge him. I have to say thanks to Pellegrino, because even today he gave me a great hand in explaining the route to us and giving us a bit of a notion of tactics and how to best recover.
When we get on the podium, there's always a little bit of his experience. I tell the youngsters that if I'm here on the podium, they can be there too: this summer I trained with my group and I didn''t always win, we all have qualities but by achieving a good result, you gain awareness and I'm sure there will be many here to do the post-race interviews...".
Just Pellegrino, who came out in the quarter-finals of a race that is objectively not very suitable for his characteristics, given that long levers and a lot of power are needed in the final, commented on his performance in this way, which dropped him from second to third place in the Tour classification de Ski, behind Klaebo and Halfvarsson, with a small margin on the other norge Golberg and Skar before the crucial 15 km classic on Saturday: "It was very hard to get into the semifinal, I tried to do my best but I made a mistake on the off the entrance to the stadium, I arrived with enough speed and I should have used it to immediately flank the American.
I waited a bit too much to get in the slipstream but then pushing, physically seeing my opponent, we can understand why I didn't go through the round. I did my best, apart from that small tactical error which for me would not have changed the outcome of this race that much. With the shortened course, I was at a slight disadvantage but that's part of the game. Let's try to hold on because the next races, especially in tomorrow's distance, will be tough to resist the attacks but we'll give it our all as always and on the Cermis we'll see what's left in terms of energy".
Francesco De Fabiani was eliminated in a mocking quarter-final due to a decisive negative contact: “If Ketterson had kept his trajectory we probably would have gained both, given that we were first and second. Man races are like that and it went well that we didn't crash. I also narrowly missed the repechage as a lucky loser, but we did a good battery anyway, I'm quite happy.
It's not said that tomorrow the whole situation can be reversed: a decent Tour de Ski anyway for me so far".
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Social media engagement
Ultimi in Sport invernali
Slittino su pista naturale: a Formia si conclude il lungo raduno dello squadrone azzurro
Con lo start di Coppa del Mondo in programma il 19-20 dicembre a Obdach, la nazionale di Moroder sta lavorando duro con 12 atleti impegnati sino a domani nel centro di preparazione olimpica del CONI.
799