Moa Ilar was the 26th skier to finish on the final stage up to the top of Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme and had to settle for eighth place in the Tour de Ski.
"It's sad. I've had a very nice tour overall and have done five very nice stages. It's sad that so much will be decided on this hill," she says and continues:
"It's brutally decisive. There are many people who are several minutes behind me in the overall standings who can overtake me."
“Earns nothing”
Some of the competitors also didn't need to put much energy into Saturday's sprint stage because they were not in contention.
"It's especially odd when the sprints don't really mean anything. You don't earn anything from the sprint, but you still travel far and compete much more than others," says Ilar, who was disqualified from the sprint final after an incident in her semi-final.
Instead, Ebba Andersson became the best Swede on the tour with a fourth place after finishing fifth on the final stage.
She doesn't agree with Ilar's criticism of how the tour is decided.
"This hill is a signature of the tour, and we are all well aware of how demanding and significant it is," says Andersson and continues:
"Then you should instead think about what the competition format should look like before this final stage."
She believes that a return to the old system with a chase start - where the leader goes out first with their lead - would change the outcome.
"Now it's only when the hill starts that the seconds start to add up. Until the hill, it's relatively status quo."
Ebba Andersson won the climb in 2021 and finished third overall. Her best overall finish was the following year when she finished second.
Third victory for Diggins
American Jessie Diggins claimed the third overall victory of her career in the Tour de Ski, finishing ahead of Austria's Teresa Stadlober and Norway's Heidi Weng.
Norwegian Karoline Simpson-Larsen won the stage.
Frida Karlsson (foot problem) left the tour before the final stage. Emma Ribom left Italy due to a cold after her second place in the five-kilometer race on New Year's Eve.
Both Jonna Sundling and Linn Svahn withdrew from the Tour de Ski. Sundling is focusing on training for the Olympics in February, while Svahn is injured.
Final standings in the Tour de Ski, women:
- Jessie Diggins, USA, 2) Teresa Stadlober, Austria, +2:17.7, 3) Heidi Weng, Norway, +2:31.6.
Swedish rankings: 4) Ebba Andersson +2:41.1, 8) Moa Ilar +4:21.0, 11) Moa Lundgren +4:59.7, 14) Maja Dahlqvist +5:44.5, 30) Evelina Crusell +8:42.5, 32) Johanna Hagström +9:51.6, 41) Lisa Eriksson +13:57.4.
