Martin Johnsrud Sundby climbs leaderboard to claim Lillehammer tour win

BySportsbeat

Published 04/12/2016 at 14:06 GMT

Martin Johnsrud Sundby's domination of the early season 3-Day Tour continues after he won his fourth consecutive title, in Lillehammer.

Emil Iversen of Norway, winner Iivo Niskanen of Finland and third-placed Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway after men's Cross Country 15 km Classic race at FIS Ruka Nordic 2016 World Cup season opening in Kuusamo.

Image credit: Eurosport

The home favourite won the final 15km pursuit ahead of fellow Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo to take the overall win, meaning he has now won twice in Lillehammer and twice in Ruka in tour events since 2013.

Sundby had actually begun the day in seventh position before quickly joining a group of 12 skiers in pursuit of Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson who led the tour after the first two stages.

The Swede put up a good fight but was eventually caught after the 10km mark with Sundby then making his move on the last lap, on the longest climb of the course, to cruise home 2.3 seconds ahead.

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Klaebo continued to impress to finish second ahead of Finland's Matti Heikkinen who was the day's fastest on time and finished third, while Halfvarsson eventually finished fifth.

Sundby leads the overall World Cup standings on 350 points with Halfvarsson second on 316 and Klaebo third on 304.

Sportsbeat 2016

Cross-Country Skiing