The Swedish national team manager Anders Byström has a vision that he believes could save the Tour de Ski – but the dream is sawn off by Fi’s long distance manager Michal Lamplot.
Since the Tour de Ski was run for the first time in 2006-2007, it has been a highlight of the season for many.
But nowadays the tour no longer looks like it did. This year, all stages were run in Italy, unlike in the past, when stages were run in two to four different countries. And that’s how it will look next year as well.
During this year’s edition of the tour, SVT has spoken to many people about the tour’s status, structure and future. Everyone describes it as the tour still being a highlight of the year and one of the most important things. But most agree that they want to see a change.
Northug: “More exclusive stages”
– As a new concept, the Tour de Ski succeeded at the start, with slightly different types of competitions. There were slightly different stages to what you see in the regular World Cup, but it has disappeared more and more and looks more like a regular World Cup weekend, says Norwegian legend Petter Northug.
What changes do you think should be made?
– Put in place a few more of these exclusive stages we had before. A prologue, a stop in a city with a city sprint. That you make it more attractive to the audience, and that it is not only in alpine villages where there are hardly any people in the arena.
Linn Svahn agrees with the criticism
Linn Svahn agrees with some of Northug’s criticisms.
– When the Tour de Ski was introduced, there were extremely different stages. Then maybe you really bring out the ultimate skier, and I would like to see that again, says Svahn, and continues:
– Now it’s pretty much the same concept all the time, just that it’s slightly different locations. Before, it was more different: A prologue, three kilometers. A chase start, a fifth, a long race of 30 kilometers.
– It was a bit more varied before, and I would have liked more of that.
Fi’s distance manager Michal Lamplot disagrees that the tour is too similar to a regular World Cup competition. Watch him develop in the clip above.