Ermil Vokuev, Russian Winter Team, is in third place in the battle for the Yellow Champion bib, 120 points behind Emil Persson, Lager 157 Ski Team, and 90 points behind Tord Asle Gjerdalen, Team XPND, Fuel of Norway. Now, however, Vokuev misses the Season XI last three events in Sweden and the chance to fight for the overall victory.

“Ermil is very upset that he could not fly to Sweden. On Wednesday, he had circumstances that did not allow him to leave home,” says Russian Winter Teams Pro Team Director Andrey Tyuterev and continues:
“For Ermil, the Visma Ski Classics season is over; he will be at the races of the Russian championships from March 25th. For the whole Pro Team, this has been a crazy year, and Ermil’s absence is another test, so we had to change our plan A.

Maxim Vylegzhanins, who is in eighth place in the Champion competition, had a plan to skip the race on Saturday and to focus on Tåssåsen Criterium 64 powered by Visma on Sunday 21th and then on the final event Årefjällsloppet 100 km on March 27th.

“Maxim is in good shape, and he had a lot of focus on the races on March 21 and 27, but now he will also help our team tomorrow at Vålådalsrennet, Tyuterev informs.

Top picture: Ermil Vokuev at his victory at Toblach-Cortina on January 24th. Photo: Björn Reichert/Nordic Focus.