Last year's Tour de Ski champion Therese Johaug of Norway finally won her first stage of this years Tour. Stage 6 saw the ladies' competing in the 10 km classic mass start event in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Early in the race it became a battle between the top three ladies in the overall standings with Marit Bjoergen, Johaug and Heidi Weng all from Norway pulling away by the 2.5 km mark. Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk tried to go with the early pace but began to struggle and dropped back into the chasing group and end up in 7th place on the stage.

Big results from Finland's Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, USA's Liz Stephen and Austria's Theresa Stadlober saw them all record their best Tour results so far this year. Stephen is one of the World's best climbers and is now in 6th in the overall standings with a real shot at a top 5 finish tomorrow on Alpe Cermis.

ATHLETE QUOTES

Therese Johaug, NOR
I worked yesterday with my coach on my classical technique. I knew Marit would be strong on the last hill but I could follow her. My skis were amazing. I don’t think I have ever had so good skis like today. I had to be double polling really hard to go for victory.

Marit Bjørgen, NOR
Second place today is great. It was only three of us fighting for bonus seconds. In the end of the race I knew I had to speed on the last climb but Therese caught me on the downhill.

Heidi Weng, NOR
I had a good day. My skis were slower than Marit’s and Therese’s. I was losing on downhills and had to work hard to get back. I wanted to go away on the last hill but Marit and Therese were faster.

OFFICIAL RESULTS - 10 km classic

1. JOHAUG Therese NOR 33:10.4
2. BJOERGEN Marit NOR +1.1
3. WENG Heidi NOR +5.5
4. SAARINEN Aino-Kaisa FIN +1:13.1
5. STEPHEN Elizabeth USA +1:39.6

OVERALL TOUR STANDINGS

1. BJOERGEN Marit NOR 2:01:17.1
2. WENG Heidi NOR +2:11.2
3. JOHAUG Therese NOR +2:50.3
4. HAGA Ragnhild NOR +6:47.1
5. KOWALCZYK Justyna POL +7:02.8