At the beginning, the race was, as expected, determined by Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Krista Pärmäkoski (FIN), who seemed to have a good ski in difficult conditions. On the second lap, an eight-woman group escaped from the field. After about half the distance Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, skiing with a Zero ski, started to increase the pace. Together with Natalia Nepryaeva she was able to open a gap, shortly thereafter came with Anastasia Sedova another Russian to the duo. After ten exhausting kilometers, there was the final sprint between Østberg and Nepryaeva, who was the first on the home stretch. But in the final sprint, the Norwegian had more energies left, so that the result from the individual start in Dobbiaco was not repeated and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg triumphed over the Russian who started too late with the finish step. Nepryaeva was one out of only two athleten among top ten who raced with a waxed ski. The winner said:"It was a tough race, with the snow it was not easy to run in the front, you always had to work, I was hoping that one after the other would fall out, but the Russians were very strong, especially in the last climb. I then decided to save the last forces for the home straight. " In the Tour ranking, the Norwegian is now 21 seconds ahead of Nepryaeva. "I'm happy about the tour tour, but of course a lot can happen in the next few days." Anastasia Sedova took third place, Yulia Belorukova (RUS, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) became sixth. Again, Teresa Stadlober (AUT, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) and Katharina Hennig (GER, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) were able to complete a competition to their absolute satisfaction. The Austrian spent a long time with the top group and lost only on the last lap the connection to the top trio. At the finish she was able to celebrate a very good seventh place. Katharina Hennig also showed a first class race, even though she could not keep up with the top eight after the first lap. Through many other dropping behind athletes she fought her way to the top of the chase group, where she fought on the front line until the end of the race - with the blue jersey of tour leader Jessie Diggins (USA) and Stina Nilsson (SWE, Fischer skis and bindings) in grey jersey of the best sprinter at the end of her ski. In the end, the trio fought a hot fight for ninth place on the home straight - but Katharina Hennig kept her nose out in front of Nilsson and Diggins, 56 seconds behind the winner. The US girl is now nearly 90 seconds behind in Tour de Ski ranking due to her big problems with the ski.
Whether intent or tactics - the previously moderate pace was suddenly sharp in the second lap just before the bonus sprint, although bonus seconds should be distributed first in the third lap. Evgeniy Belov (RUS) and Calle Halfvarsson (SWE) took a slight lead in the non-bonus sprint drawn by Emil Iversen and Sergey Ustiugov sprinted too, but had to pay for the speed improvement shortly thereafter. With ever increasing snowfall, it became an increasingly tough race, which was largely dominated by the Norwegians. In the last lap at Burgstall, the pace was suddenly rised and suddenly Ustiugov was again in the lead. Led by Emil Iversen, a group of four took a slight lead followed by other athletes who were almost back in the stadium. The Norwegian took the victory in the final sprint ahead of Francesco de Fabiani (ITA). "The weather is like always in Oberstdorf, but it suits me here. This is my third win here. I tried to stay in the lead on the last lap, I think that was the right strategy. We had one today strong team, but it's always nice to be the first to reach the finish", said Iversen. Sergey Ustiugov took his next podium place. Sixth place went to Didrik Tønseth (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots), Andrey Larkov (RUS, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) finished eighth. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) was ninth, followed by Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS, Fischer skis and bindings). After four stages Klæbo is now 15 seconds ahead of Ustiugov.
