Terje Mathisen wrote:

Davide Tosi wrote:
I don't know the reason for which your yankee hero didn't partecipate, but
I think there are a few things to be noted from the results above.
The first seven are all from Alpine nations. The first scandinavian is just
10th, the first norwegian only 12th. There are 3 Germans, 3 Italians and 2
Frenchs before the first Swedish, 4 Italians, 3 Germans and 2 Frenchs
before the first Norwegian.

One very important factor: This was a double pursuit, but with the
classic part, where the norwegians usually stretch the field quite a
bit, held in a very severe snowfall.

I believe they still tried to lead, but the result was only that they
got too tired before the skate part, when the weather cleared a little,
according to Aftenposten.

I did see the races (on German channel ARD, right now the best source for
wintersports) and I did not notice any remarkable change in the weather
between the two parts. Piller Cottrer and Valbusa also tried to make a
break just after the "pit stop" without any success, but they had no
problem in following the Germans during the final forcing. OTOH, I don't
remember that many Norwegians leading the race in the classic part, except
in the downhills, where they obviously had good waxes. Moreover, Soedergren
was the only Swedish who tried to speed up the pace in front of the pack
and nonetheless he was the best of the men in blue & yellow at the end. So,
I don't think that the people who ended behind did it because they were
tired for trying to break away during early part of the races, they were
just on poorer form. And anyway anyone who wants to beat the Germans has to
speed up the rhythm before the last few Kms, since Sommerfeldt, Angerer and
co. are clearly the best in mass arrivals.