Visma Ski Classics Season XII will start tomorrow in Sweden with the Orsa Grönklitt Pro Team Tempo event, which is followed by the Orsa Grönklitt Individual Prologue on Sunday. Who are the favorites over the weekend – read more!

It’s been two years since the last Pro Team Tempo race in Visma Ski Classics. Due to the pandemic, this special race wasn’t included in the calendar last winter, but it now returns in a revamped format. The rules have been changed from a pursuit race to a team effort both in the men and women’s case. In the past, the Pro Team male athletes raced together, and the time was taken from the second-best skier, and then afterwards, the women set off in a pursuit format based on the time difference gained in the men’s race.

Now, the Pro Team Tempo event is organized as an interval start competition with block starts, where Pro Teams start one-by-one, and the best teams in the Pro Team ranking are spread out over the field. The gap between the blocks is 4 minutes, and the female athletes start 30 seconds after their male counterparts. The finishing times of the 2^nd best male and the 2^nd best female of the team count for the classification. 

Naturally, this will allow more team tactics and certainly alter the game. The course tomorrow is flat, and the distance is nine kilometers, which means that skiers with high speed are well-suited for the race. Drafting will also play an important role as the strongest skier can take the lead and the second best needs to follow him or her. This format also suits some smaller teams with young skiers who do not yet have the experience and capacity needed for long distance races.

However, the big Pro Teams are the strongest favorites once again. The trick is to have two powerful women in a team as many Pro Teams are well-equipped when it comes to their male skiers, but not that many of them have two strong female athletes. They may have one strong female skier, but since the time is taken from the second one, this factor is extremely important.

So, let’s take a look at the six best Pro Teams as of today. Team Ramudden is one of the biggest favorites tomorrow. Their male roster is impressive as there are three strong men in the form of Max Novak, Johannes Eklöf and Herman Paus. They can easily work together and come up with a fast finishing time for the second best athlete. On the women’s side, Lina Korsgren and Ida Dahl are equally strong, even if Ida has been suffering from injuries. Unfortunately for them, Jenny Larsson is unable to attend, but she can be heard as an expert commentator on the live broadcast for Visma Ski Classics.

The second-best team, Lager 157 Ski Team, is even stronger on paper than Team Ramudden. Their four men, Emil Persson, Marcus Johansson, Runar Skaug Mathiesen and Eddie Edström, can easily put up a fight and beat anyone in the field tomorrow. Emil is the reigning Champion, and his teammates possess the capacity to go fast and follow him if needed. If it happens that these male skiers won’t be the fastest of the bunch, their female counterparts can easily compensate for that. Britta Johansson Norgren, Thea Krokan Murud and Hanna Falk* are all in great shape, and by working together, this female trio is really hard to beat.

Team Ragde Charge is currently ranked as the third best Pro Team, which is quite unusual for them since they are used to being the number one. Their male roster pale in comparison with no one. They have registered seven male skiers for tomorrow, and they are all podium level skiers or at least top-10. Oskar Kardin, Andreas Nygaard, Joar Thele, Anders Aukland, Johan Hoel, Karstein Johaug and Kasper Stadaas are the guys who can work together and change their leading skier frequently, which gives them an edge over the other teams. Their Achilles heel is their second female skier. We all know how good Marit Bjørgen can be, but the question is how well Anniken Gjerde Alnes can perform tomorrow. 

Russian Winter Team comes next, and they are a fierce gang. On the men’s side, they have five skiers: Ermil Vokuev, Maxim Vylegzanin, Alexandr Grebenko, Alexey Shemiakin and Andrei Kutznetsov. There is no doubt that these guys can’t go fast and conjure up a good team tactic. But again, their problem is their female skiers. Olga Tsareva is quite strong, but Dina Nekrasova and Elizaveta Shalaboda are somewhat mysteries to us. 

Team Koteng Eidissen, currently 5^th, is one of the safest bets tomorrow. This team has both great male and female skiers. We all know what these guys are capable of doing. Martin Johnsrud Sundby is a legend of the sport, Chris Andre Jespersen won La Diagonela in 2020, Torleif Syrstad is a Vasaloppet podium skier, Mikael Gunnulfsen won Reistadløpet in 2019, and their two lesser-known names Mattis Steenhagen and Thomas Bucher-Johannessen are good additions to the team. In terms of the male power, this team can challenge Team Ragde Charge. What really makes this team extremely dangerous in the eyes of the other teams is the fact that the Slind sisters are their female power duo. Both Astrid and Kari Øyre Slind are so strong that they can be the fastest women tomorrow.

Finally, Team Mäenpää is the sixth best Pro Team right now, and their roster is quite good. Viktor, Hannes and Hans Mäenpää are all even skiers who can help each other and make sure that their second-best athlete gets a good finishing time. Their female skiers are even stronger as Anne Kyllönen, who has already got some World Cup points this season, and Julia Häger are capable of flying with wings on the tracks. However, this team is the weakest of these six, at least on paper.

There are some other Pro Teams that can challenge these six, or at least Team Mäenpää, such as Team Curira, Team Kaffebryggeriet, Team XPND Fuel, Team Eksjöhus, and Team Næringsbanken. Of these teams, Oskar Svärd’s squad Team Eksjöhus is most likely the one that could be among the top six as they have Morten Eide Pedersen and Axel Jutterström along with Linn Sömskar and Hedda Bångman. But can Hedda keep up with Linn? That’s the question tomorrow.

To predict the right order of the teams in tomorrow’s Pro Team Tempo is a fool’s errand, but someone has to do it. So, here we go: 1. Team Koteng Eidissen, 2. Lager 157 Ski Team, 3. Team Ramudden, 4. Team Ragde Charge, 5. Team Eksjöhus, 6. Russian Winter Team.

On Sunday, the Pro Tour will return to its usual format, or at least to a more familiar one, as the race will be 43 km long and a mass-start one. All of the names mentioned earlier in this article are likely favorites, and we will certainly see them fighting for glory on the tracks in Orsa Grönklitt.

In the men’s race, there are possibly many young and hungry athletes who are eager to show what they are made of. However, experience and winning spirit are the key elements for victory, and the usual suspect are as strong as they have always been. Emil Persson, Andreas Nygaard, Oskar Kardin, Tord Asle Gjerdalen, Ermil Vokuev, Max Novak, Morten Eide Pedersen and Stian Hoelgaard are all potential podium skiers on Sunday. The best candidates to challenge these guys are Team Ragde Charge’s skiers Johan Hoel, Karstein Johaug and Kasper Stadaas, Team Ramudden’s Johannes Eklöf, Team Eksjöhus’ Axel Jutterström, Maxim Vylegzanin from Russian Winter Team, and Vetle Thyli from Team Kaffebryggeriet. To pick a winner is almost impossible, but for the sake of argument let’s go for Emil Persson.

On the women’s side, the usual favorites are as strong as in the men’s field. The current Champion Lina Korsgren and her teammate Ida Dahl, both from Team Ramudden, Emilie Fleten from Team XPND Fuel, Marit Bjørgen, Team Ragde Charge, Britta Johansson Norgren, Thea Krokan Murud and Hanna Falk, all from Lager 157 Ski Team, and Kari and Astrid Øyre Slind, Team Koteng Eidissen, are the skiers with the greatest chances to win the race on Sunday. However, we should not forget Anne Kyllönen, who could push herself all the way to the podium. She is a former Finnish National Team member who finished 5^th at Ylläs-Levi in 2019. Again, to predict a winner is not an easy task to do, but Hanna Falk* is the one who gets the vote here.

*Friday night revision/Author’s note: Hanna Falk will not race this weekend – a new winner candidate in the women’s race on Sunday is Emilie Fleten.