Its something NEW at World Cup level and it doesnt seem to have been talked about on here.

Instead of weekly races thru the season with a Xmas Break we have the last race on 17 Dec, then a burst of races at five venues from 29 Dec to 7 Jan - the tour - then a recovery break until 20 Jan and then the buildup to the Junior World Champs in Italy on 29 Jan and the World Champs in Japan on 22 Feb.

So instead of having a train/race program geared towards peaking at the World Champs the team planning for this season must have been a nightmare. A need to choose racers to grab teampoints in the early races, a need for the elite to do well in this first tour and a need for the juniors and elite to do well in their World Champs.
Perhaps someone can give us their insight on the subject from the racers point of view.

I can envision Ole Einar Bjoerndalen missing some biathlon events to prepare for a possible medal chance at the XC Worlds now that he's proved himself capable.