Petter Northug, qui vient de terminer un stage à l'Alpe di Siusi en compagnie de son coéquipier Niklas Dyrhaug, voulait absolument faire La Sgambeda ce dimanche avant de retourner en Norvège pour les fêtes. Northug devait aussi se rassurer sur sa forme avant le Tour de Ski.

Cette épreuve longue distance, comptant pour la FIS Marathon Cup, était idéale pour lui. Un parcours au profil plutôt facile sur une longueur de 42km, le tout sous le beau soleil de Livigno. Il est vrai que de telles conditions ça fait envie !

Le Norvégien est resté fidèle à ses habitudes en attendant l'emballage final pour se placer devant. Auteur d'un sprint de très haut niveau, il prend le meilleur sur Matti Heikkinen (photo) et Toni Livers dans les tout derniers mètres. Petter Northug passe la ligne en 1'36"57 avec 0.6sec de marge sur le Finlandais et 0.7sec sur le Suisse.

Ensuite c'est le Haut-Savoyard Benoit Chauvet qui prend une 4e place en tout point magnifique à 2.1sec seulement de Northug. Voilà qui fait énormément plaisir de voir des Français aux premiers plans sur des courses de ce niveau !

Le Slovaque Bajcicak prend la 5e place à 3.7sec devant l'Estonien Rehemaa et les Italiens Zorzi, Moriggl et Santus. Le Biélorusse Dolidovitch se classe 10e.

Emilien Buisson prend la 26e place, Jérémie Millereau termine 36e, Vincent Duchène 42e et Martin Bouchet 46e. Jean-Marc Gaillard, malade, n'a pas pris le départ tout comme le Norvégien Dyrhaug.

16.12.2012, Livigno, Italy (ITA): l-r: Petter Northug (NOR), Matti Heikkinen (FIN)- FIS Marathon Cup La Sgambeda, Livigno (ITA). www.nordicfocus.com. © Felgenhauer/NordicFocus. Every downloaded picture is fee-liable.

Les réactions  (source FIS)

Petter Northug Jr. (NOR): "I didn't expect too much of this race today as I am here to prepare the Tour de Ski and therefore did a lot of training in the past days. But I had a good feeling during the race and of course it's always nice to win. It's good for the motivation. I started easy in the first round when everybody was still together. In the second round Matti speeded up the pace and suddenly we were only 8 who stayed together until the end and who help the speed up high. And yes, I counted on my finish sprint once again and it worked, so I am very happy."

Matti Heikkinen (FIN): "It was my first Worldloppet resp. FIS Marathon Cup race and I really enjoyed it. We all skied a relatively easy first round and then in the second round I attacked and a group of 8 racers was built. Then, the real race started. I knew that Petter would be strong in the finish. At about 8km before the finish Petter and I talked and we said that we'll take first and second place – but somehow it ended not in the order of which I had thought ;-)! This race was a good training for me for the Tour de Ski, I was not feeling so great before so it's nice to be on the podium and get some confidence. Normally long distance races are not really on my schedule, but if the timing works out, I will certainly do one again, maybe in preparation to the Olympic Games in Sotchi!"

 Toni Livers (SUI): "It was time for a podium place in a FIS Marathon Cup – I waited long enough and got a lot of experience on the way, so I am very happy that it finally worked out! It was a really nice race and I really enjoyed it. Right at the start of the second round, a group of eight could get away and I was well placed and could go with them. The pace was hiugh throughout the whole second round which was nice. It was clear for everyone that it would end in a finish sprint so I simply tried to give everything and it worked out!"

Le classement complet ICI

Le classement des Français ICI

Photo : Nordic Focus