Sergey Ustiugov misses shot at history, but retains Tour de Ski lead

Sergey Ustiugov's run of five straight stage wins in the Tour de Ski ended Saturday in Tesero, Italy, although the Russian still retained a comfortable overall lead entering Sunday's concluding climb up Mount Cermis.

Two-time Tour champion Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway won the 15-kilometre classical mass start race in 40 minutes, 40 seconds, just 2.2 seconds ahead of rival Ustiugov. Matti Heikkinen of Finland crossed third, 2.8 seconds behind.

Canada's Alex Harvery, who earned a bronze medal in the 15km pursuit on Wednesday, finished 19th with a time of 41:18.7 and dropped from fourth to sixth in the overall Tour de Ski standings. 

"It is a tough course and the guys are pretty tired but they dug deep today," said Ivan Babikov, coach of the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team at the Tour.

"We might have missed it a bit with the skis. We may have gone with something a bit too sticky. "It was really hard, packed snow and this is a tough course to get the skis right. Ideally you want to have good kick and a fast glide, but it is a gamble on a course this tough."

Ustiugov was bidding to become the first skier — male or female — to win all seven stages in the 11-year history of the Tour. He remained 1 minute, 11.9 seconds ahead of Sundby, with three-time Tour winner Dario Cologna of Switzerland in third, 2:04.1 back.

Ustiugov will have a 72 second lead on Sundby as the seven-race Tour wraps up on Sunday with a punishing nine-km pursuit race that ends with a 425-metre climb straight to the top of Alpe Cermis.

Harvey will begin his final quest for the overall podium, 38 seconds behind Switzerland's Dario Cologna, who sits in third heading into the last stage. 

Nilsson reclaims lead

In the women's 10K event, Stina Nilsson of Sweden reclaimed the Tour lead with her fourth stage win of this year's race, setting up a close final-day contest with Norwegian rival Heidi Weng.

Nilsson required slightly more than half an hour to complete the classical mass start event in Val di Fiemme. Nilsson finished 3.0 seconds ahead of Anne Kylloenen of Finland and 3.7 in front of fellow Swede Charlotte Kalla, the 2008 Tour champion.

Nilsson, who had lost her lead and dropped to third overall a day earlier, moved 19.2 seconds ahead of Weng in the Tour standings. Krista Parmakoski of Finland is third, 53.9 behind.

"I knew the body could respond both ways in the Tour and I'm so happy it responded in the right way today," Nilsson said.

Weng finished seventh in the stage, 17.5 seconds behind Nilsson.

Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg also struggled, placing 18th in the stage and dropping out of contention from her second-placed standing entering the day.