Alex Harvey 14th as Tour de Ski wraps up
Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway wins gold
Canada's Alex Harvey finished the Tour de Ski in 14th as the final stage concluded Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Coming off a seventh-place stage finish Saturday, the 27-year-old skied to 16th in the nine-kilometre pursuit.
"I'm going to be happy with the day. It was my best climb by far. I didn't fully remember it from before and I think I went out a bit too conservative. Both my legs were working really well so I'm really happy with the day," said Harvey in a press release.
The stage dropped him two positions from 12th, where he stood at the beginning of the day, to his final position.
"The hill is not that long, but it has three really steep pitches that have you breathing has hard as you can and your legs are super tired," said Harvey. "You are just hacking it up the hill. You can't find a technique that is appropriate for the terrain and it is just a really unusual feeling."
Ivan Babikov, Harvey's teammate, had one of his best performances, finishing 11th on the day, 39.1 seconds behind stage and overall champion Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway. Babikov finished 29th overall. The third Canadian in the Tour, Devon Kershaw, finished 32nd overall.
Sundy won the event handily, all but wrapping up his victory on Saturday in the 15 km mass start. Rounding out the podium was Finn Haagen Krogh, also of Norway, and Sergey Ustiugov of Russia.
"It has been a perfect Tour for me. I had one bad day," Sundby said. "But everything has been perfect."
In two weeks Harvey and Kershaw will return to action in the sprint World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
With files from the Associated Press and Cross Country Canada