The twelfth season of Ski Classics begins in Orsa Grönklitt with a pace race for teams over 14 kilometers.
With 18 World Cup golds and 8 Olympic golds in his luggage, the 41-year-old Norwegian Marit Bjørgen is on the starting line to help Team Ragde Charge to a dream opening in the long-distance running season.
Bjørgen, who ended her career in the World Cup in the spring of 2018, has previously said that she will bet on Marcialonga, Jizerska, Vasaloppet and Birkebeinerrennet, the foursome that is part of the Grand Slam, and Reistadslöpet.
But on Friday morning she was out testing the tracks in Orsa Grönklitt.
– It’s not that far to Orsa so I thought I could just as well go here. It is good training and I will see how I get started, says Bjørgen.
She rode the Vasaloppet in March and finished second, 42 seconds behind Lina Korsgren.
– I only ran one race and the Vasaloppet gave me more taste. I want to be part of the team and it’s exciting to go a little longer, it’s a challenge.
Bjørgen rides in the same team as Anders Aukland who will soon be 50 years old. How long she herself can be thought to last, she has no idea today.
– We’ll see, I’m turning 42 so I’m no longer a young girl.
– Marit Bjørgen finished second in the Vasaloppet 2021, after Lina Korsgren.
Photo: Simon Hastegård / Bildbyrån
The team also includes ski queen Therese Johaug who has full focus on the Olympics in Beijing.
– She may enter the Birkebeinerrennet and other races at the end, Bjørgen says.
Saturday’s prologue is a team competition where the time in the finish is counted on the lady and the man who finishes as second in the team.
– It is no idea for a skier to pull away from the rest of the team, states David Nilsson who is CEO of Visma Ski Classics.
There are several interesting skiers who have left the World Cup to now try their luck in Ski Classics.
Hanna Falk, best known for her efforts as a sprinter in the cross-country team, takes place in Lager 157, the Swedish team with stars such as Emil Persson, who won the overall cup 2020/2021, and Britta Johansson Norgren, who won 21 races in Ski Classics.
– Falk is unfortunately deleted this weekend, Nilsson says.
Anna Jönsson Haag, who is now 35 years old and a mother of two, is back on the competition tracks. On the men’s side, Martin Johnsrud Sundby can be a challenger, he won the Birkebeinerrennet 2017.
Skiers who compete both on Saturday and Sunday get 50 bonus points in the hunt for the yellow jersey that is awarded to the ladies and gentlemen who are at the top of the points league when Ski Classics after 14 races ends in Finnish Ylläs-Levi on April 9.
– If you are to win Visma Ski Classics in total, you can not stand over this weekend because then you risk cod the yellow jersey of 45 points, Nilsson states.
On Sunday, a traditional mass start awaits in a race over 33 kilometers.
Orsa, together with the other newcomer, Italian Misurina, are the only resorts that arrange competitions for two days.
The weekend in Misurina January 8-9 ends with an individual race that only measures eleven kilometers but has an ascent of 500 meters up to an altitude of 2,300 meters, of which the final four kilometers are only uphill.
– It can not be a snowstorm then you do not get to the goal. You drive until you vomit, the riders will definitely be very tired when they finish, says Nilsson.
The increased spread of covid is worrying, but so far the organizers have no intention of setting up a race.
– We adapt to the rules in the different countries, but the difficult thing is that there are different rules around Europe and that they change over time. It is an outdoor sport so from that perspective it is still quite gentle compared to indoor sports.
Orsa Grönklitt will be the first out to arrange a long-distance race premiere in Scandinavia.
– We have an idea with the prologue and our final, as in the Tour de France, that you move them to different places to increase interest. We have been in the Alps for quite a few years, it is no more than right that we now have the prologue in Scandinavia, says David Nilsson.
On Friday, the various teams went out and tested the courses, which consist of both artificial and natural snow.
– They have done a good job here in Orsa Grönklitt, says Magnar Dalen who is the leader of Bjørgen in the Norwegian Team Ragde Charge.