Alex Harvey holds top-10 standing in Tour de Ski

Canadian Alex Harvey dropped two spots in the overall standings in the Tour de Ski, finishing ninth in Sunday's race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The 27-year-old began the day seventh overall after the first two legs of the eight-race competition and set out to close the gap on the leaders, but soon realized it would not be happening. Harvey finished the 10-kilometre pursuit stage in 24 minutes 19.7 seconds, dropping him to ninth in the Tour.

"It was really tough today," said Harvey. "I didn't feel like I recovered from yesterday's 30-kilometre race. I had a bad night of sleep and just didn't feel good when I woke up. This was the hardest race of the year for me, for sure. Given that, this is a good result."

The two-time Olympian decided to work on holding his place among the top 10 when it became apparent he wouldn't be catching the leaders.
 
"I just tried to stay with the group today. You have to stay strong physically and mentally. Usually the long 35-kilometre stage is later in the Tour, but this time things get tougher early on."

Norway owns podium

Norway's Martin Johnsrud Sundby leads the Tour with an accumulative time of 1:37:09.2. He leads by a wide margin over compatriots Petter Jr. Northug and Finn Haagen Krogh, both of whom also finished second and third, respectively, in the 10 km pursuit. Northug and Krogh are 1:30.2 and 2:00.2 back.

"The good thing is I'm closer in time to the top-three than I was when the day started. It will be good to have a rest day [Monday]. I'm going to make the most out of that, and be ready for the sprint on Tuesday which will be important to do well."

Harvey sits 2:50 back. Canadians Ivan Babikov and Devon Kershaw sit in 37th and 41st, 6:23.7 and 7:01.9 back, respectively.

"The Tour to this point is going okay,"  said team head coach Justin Wadsworth. "Alex skied a really good race today for not feeling well. The top-three is still very much in his sights, but he knows how critical it will be to qualify in the sprint on Tuesday so he will be going all out."

The Tour de Ski is a 10-day, eight-race event which takes places at four venues in three countries. The fourth stage will be held Tuesday in Oberstdorf, Germany.

The women's Tour is led by Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg or Norway with a time of 56:25.6.