Kati Roivas, Team Næringsbanken, finished sixth in both the 62-kilometer Pustertaler Ski Marathon on Saturday and the 32-kilometer Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge on Sunday:

“I’m happy I could ski so close to the top. It seems that I have improved from last season,” said a happy Roivas to Maastohiihto.com.

On Sunday, the Pro Tour skiers raced in the Dolomites mountains on a grueling course. The total ascent was around thousand meters, most of it in the last ten kilometers. Roivas lost seven minutes to the winner on the longer distance on Saturday and three minutes on the shorter distance on Sunday.

Roivas fought for fourth place in the final part of the course on Prato Piazza but lost it by 17 seconds. Like most of the top skiers, she double-poled all the way to the top of Prato Piazza. 

At her best moment in the competition, Roivas led the group at the beginning of the race and was only one second behind the top in the 21-kilometer intermediate.

“Then we started up a steep hill. I’m a strong uphill skier, but I didn’t have enough power when the top three broke away,” said Roivas.

Team Kaskipuu’s Oona Kettunen finished tenth on Saturday and eighth on Sunday.

“Neither race was a perfect performance. On Saturday (62 km), I fell twice in the downhills and lost time and positions.”

“On Sunday (32 km), I skied with kick wax, but then the grip was not as good as I expected. I skied in diagonal striding less than ten percent of the way. Sunday’s heavy track profile suited me better than Saturday’s course. There is room for improvement, said Kettunen.

Team Kaskipuu’s Juuso Mäkelä finished as the best Finnish man in 34th place at Pustertaler Ski Marathon and 21st at Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge.

“I am satisfied with the weekend. I could have reached 20th place on Saturday, but I had to ski 20 kilometers without drinking. On Sunday, skiing was tiring initially, and it felt like nothing would come of it. In the heavy climbs at the end, as a small guy with great oxygen uptake, I got up to speed and passed a lot of skiers,” said Mäkelä.

Team Mäenpää’s Viktor Mäenpää broke away from the group on Sunday after the Sprint checkpoint and got a gap of half a minute. 

In the end, Mäenpää finished 36th place. His ranking was the same on Saturday when he also led the race in a breakaway.

Read More: Emil Persson And Ida Dahl Crushed The Field At Pustertaler Ski Marathon 2023

Also Read: Emil Persson And Astrid Øyre Slind Winners At Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge

Check skiclass.com for overall standings and all about Ski Classics.

The upcoming Ski Classics Pro Tour event is Engadin La Diagonela, a 55km classic technique event in Switzerland on January 21.

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XIV (2022/2023)

• Event 1: December 10, 2022 – Bad Gastein PTT, Bad Gastein, Austria, 15km
• Event 2: December 11, 2022 – Bad Gastein Criterium, Bad Gastein, Austria, 35km
• Event 3: December 17, 2022 – La Venosta Criterium, Val Venosta, Italy, 40km 
• Event 4: January 14, 2023 – Pustertaler Ski Marathon, Sexten, Italy, 62km
• Event 5: January 15, 2023 – Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, Niederdorf, Italy, 32km
• Event 6: January 21, 2023 – Engadin La Diagonela, Engadin Valley, Switzerland, 55km 
• Event 7: January 29, 2023 – Marcialonga, Trentino, Italy, 70km
• Event 8: February 12, 2023 – Jizerská50, Bedrichov, Czech Republic, 50km
• Event 9: February 18, 2023 – Grönklitt Criterium, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 50km
• Event 10: February 19, 2023 – Grönklitt ITT, Orsa Grönklitt, Sweden, 15km
• Event 11: March 5, 2023 – Vasaloppet, Sälen-Mora, Sweden, 90km
• Event 12: March 18, 2023 – Birkebeinerrennet, Rena-Lillehammer, Norway, 54km
• Event 13: April 1, 2023 – Reistadløpet, Setermoen-Bardufoss, Norway, 40km
• Event 14: April 2, 2023 – Summit 2 Senja, Bardufoss- Finnsnes, Norway, 67km

More information about the Ski Classics Pro Tour you can find at skiclassics.com.

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