Vittoz victory

The World Champion at the German venue in 2005 was only 15th after the classical phase but was one of 12 skiers who entered the final 2.5km freestyle loop within ten seconds of each other.

Russia's Alexander Legkov made his move inside the final kilometre and gained a sizeable advantage only to be beaten by nine tenths at the finish by Vittoz.

Defending World Cup champion Tobias Angerer lost time after falling during a downhill section of the freestyle, losing valuable time, although he also produced a stirring finish to claim third place.

Russia and Germany combined for seven of the first 11 finishers, none of whom were placed in the top 30 in the opening sprint leg in Munich on Sunday.

The winner of that phase, Christoph Eigenmann, was eliminated after being lapped in the closing stages and only Norway's Simen Oestensen and Czech Martin Koukal have managed top 20 finishes in both races.

Oestensen collected 15 bonus seconds at the first intermediate sprint and he now holds the leader's yellow jersey by 16.4 seconds from Vittoz with Legkov and Angerer both within 30 seconds of the unheralded 22-year-old.

There are a further four races in the space of five days before the inaugural champion is crowned in Val di Fiemme on Sunday.

1 (48) Vincent Vittoz (FRA) 50:55.9

2 (62) Alexander Legkov (RUS) 50:56.8 @ +0.9

3 (41) Tobias Angerer (GER) 50:58.4 @ +2.5

4 (38) Nikolai Pankratov (RUS) 50:59.0 @ +3.1

5 (49) Anders Soedergren (SWE) 50:59.2 @ +3.3

6 (33) Eugeni Dementiev (RUS) 50:59.3 @ +3.4

7 (52) Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA) 50:59.6 @ +3.7

8 (66) Sergej Shiriaev (RUS) 51:01.3 @ +5.4

9 (40) Axel Teichmann (GER) 51:01.9 @ +6.0

10 (46) Mathias Fredriksson (SWE) 51:03.9 @ +8.0

11 (60) Jens Filbrich (GER) 51:05.5 @ +9.6

12 (6) Simen Oestensen (NOR) 51:07.5 @ +11.6

13 (20) Martin Koukal (CZE) 51:21.7 @ +25.8

14 (64) Christian Hoffmann (AUT) 51:23.0 @ +27.1

15 (25) Cristian Zorzi (ITA) 51:24.8 @ +28.9

16 (82) Jiri Magal (CZE) 51:26.2 @ +30.3

17 (88) Gion Andrea Bundi (SUI) 51:27.7 @ +31.8

18 (57) Frode Estil (NOR) 51:35.9 @ +40.0

19 (79) Toni Livers (SUI) 51:37.8 @ +41.9

20 (58) Jean Marc Gaillard (FRA) 51:38.0 @ +42.1

21 (43) Sami Jauhojarvi (FIN) 51:40.9 @ +45.0

22 (7) Petter Northug (NOR) 51:42.1 @ +46.2

23 (87) Valerio Checchi (ITA) 51:43.0 @ +47.1

24 (8) Tor Arne Hetland (NOR) 51:47.5 @ +51.6

25 (2) Devon Kershaw (CAN) 51:48.6 @ +52.7

26 (63) Tom Reichelt (GER) 51:49.4 @ +53.5

27 (15) Giorgio Di Centa (ITA) 51:50.1 @ +54.2

28 (83) Martin Tauber (AUT) 51:52.4 @ +56.5

29 (37) Franz Goering (GER) 51:54.4 @ +58.5

30 (78) Ville Nousiainen (FIN) 51:59.2 @ +1:03.3