Last night, FasterSkier Editor in Chief was unsuspectingly taking a shower when the door handle to the bathroom broke, leaving him marooned inside while the remainder of the FasterSkier staff went on an unsuccessful gummy bear-hunting expedition.

After an extremely confused, non-English-speaking woman attempted to apply a screwdriver to the door, help came in the form of one of the hotel’s managers. He wielded a combination of brute force and suave wrench technique to defeat the broken lock, allowing Sabot to finally egress from bathroom without experiencing any ‘panik.’ We caught him immediately afterwards for the exclusive post-confinement interview.

TOBLACH, Italy – Broadcasters will muster 29 cameras, 70 workers, snowmobiles, and two helicopters in order to televise Thursday’s queen stage of the Tour de Ski, the 35-kilometer point-to-point freestyle race from Cortina to Toblach.

For Infront, the company that films the broadcast, producing the TV feed for the Cortina-Toblach stage is exceptionally challenging, with the Italian climate and geography presenting some interesting challenges.

Mountains and snow interfere with radio transmission, so Infront had to set up a number of relay stations along the course, as well as a technical hub that had to be hauled up onto a mountainside by a helicopter.

During the race, Infront will rely on the snowmobiles and helicopters to film much of the race, along with some fixed cameras. Of the two helicopters, one will fly low with camera equipment, while the other will be flying higher and beaming the broadcast back to production headquarters in Toblach.

Producer Federica Bonardi said that because the race is so long, she and her crew have prepared some additional programming to be shown simultaneously—using picture-in-picture, she said—that highlights the region’s unique characteristics.

She said viewers should expect some interesting flourishes, but she wouldn’t say what they were, instead encouraging a reporter to keep his fingers crossed for good weather.

TOBLACH, Italy – Marit Bjoergen  (NOR) won the 3^rd of three races in today’s skate sprint, the 6^th stage of the Tour de Ski, in Toblach, Italy. Kikkan Randall (USA) finished in second, and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) was 3^rd.  The three women finished in single file, each several meters apart; once they hit the home stretch, the finishing order was clear.

Kowalczyk continues to lead the tour, but Bjoergen picked up over 10 seconds on Kowalczyk: 8 bonus seconds separating 1st and 3rd, and then the 4.90 second difference in qualification time. She now leads by a mere 4.8 seconds, and together the two have almost two and a half minutes on Therese Johaug (NOR), sitting in 3rd place.

Holly Brooks (USA) qualified in 28^th, and was in the same quarterfinal as Randall. An unfortunate trip on one of the hills brought her to the ground, and out of the race.

In the post-race press conference, Bjoergen and Kowalczyk were asked whether they would work together in tomorrow’s 15k skate, and there was an awkward silence before vague responses.

Complete results.

Overall tour standings.

TOBLACH, Italy – Nikolay Morilov, the Russian skate sprint speciallist held off Petter Northug (NOR) in a hotly contested skate sprint final in the sixth stage of the 2012 Tour de Ski.

Northug led down the final descent, but Morilov came by around the final corner, holding a slight edge into the homestretch.

Northug battled back, but Morilov won the race with a superior lunge.

Dario Cologna (SUI), the overall leader in the Tour de Ski finished third on a day he told reporters he was trying to conserve energy.

Northug said he was “embarrassed” with his performance in the last 200 meters, but picked up a few seconds on Cologna nonetheless.

Canadian Alex Harvey advanced to the finals, but told FasterSkier he did not have great glide, and was not in the mix at the end.

Devon Kershaw (CAN) was paired with Harvey in the quarterfinals, and was unable to advance. just missing a lucky loser spot.

The Russian sprint specialists, including Morilov, Alexei Petukhov (5th today) and Nikita Kriukov, have withdrawn from the Tour following the conclusion of today’s race.

Complete Results

TOBLACH, Italy – All the favorites advanced to the heats in the skate sprint qualifier as the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski kicked off.

Dario Cologna (SUI) the overall leader of the Tour posted the fastest qualifying time on the 1.3km course, clocking in at 2:55.53, a second-and-a-half ahead of sprint specialist Alexey Petukhov (RUS).

Petter Northug (NOR) was thirda head of Nikolay Morilov (RUS).

Defending winner of the event, Devon Kershaw (CAN) appears in top form, qualifying 6th, with teammate Alex Harvey doing one better in 5th.

The winner of the classic sprint in Oberstdorf, Nikita Kriukov (RUS), a much stronger classic skier, did not advance.

A top contender in the overall, Maurice Manificat (FRA), just missed out on the heats, placing 33rd.

In the women’s event, Marit Bjoergen set the pace, besting krista Lahteenmaki (FIN) by 1.19 seconds, with American Kikkan Randall in 3rd.

Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), who failed to get out of the quarterfinals in this race last year, was 11th.

Holly Brooks (USA) racing with broken bones in her hand, advanced after placing 28th in qualification.

Liz Stephen (USA) was 57th.

Women’s Qualification Results

Men’s Qualification Results

TOBLACH, Italy – Kris Freeman’s frustrating season continued on Wednesday, as he failed to qualify for the heats in Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski, a skate sprint. Once again, the American said, he “just didn’t have the pop.”

“I come out every day expecting myself to perform the way I know I can, and most of the time it hasn’t happened,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of brighter spots, but nothing wonderful.”

Freeman finished 54^th, roughly five seconds from qualifying, and some 12 seconds out of the lead.

He said that he had no problems with the way he executed the race, and skied the course well, but that things are “just not clicking.”

At this point, Freeman said he’s taking the Tour one day at a time, and has no plans to drop out. He may re-evaluate his plans for the remainder of the season after the Tour finishes this weekend, but there are no plans for him to go home.

“I’m definitely going to look at my options when the Tour is over, and possibly skip a couple weekends, try to get some rest, and find my form. It doesn’t feel like it’s that far away,” he said. “I’m hoping that after I finish this Tour, [and] get myself some rest, I’ll get a bounce.”

While Freeman has recovered from the personal problems that were preoccupying him early in the season, he said he’s still suffering from their aftereffects.

“I do feel a lot better—I’m more relaxed with things. But you know, there was a lot of anxiety and a lot of wasted energy for about six weeks there,” he said. “I wish I could have that six weeks back, but the damage is done.”

TOBLACH, Italy – It was not a good day for the US men’s contingent at the 2012 Tour de Ski. Kris Freeman finished 52^nd, well off the pace in the 5km classic prologue, while Simi Hamilton didn’t even make it to the start line due to illness.

Freeman, who hasn’t been able to find his top form this season, will continue the Tour, racing the freestyle sprint on Wednesday, but he has no answers for his subpar racing.

“I am at a loss…I raced really hard,” Freeman told FasterSkier. “I just had nothing.”

Freeman on the first climb.

He said his skis were decent on the highly variable course, with “slow points, fast points, slick points,” and did not see that as major player in his race.

Hamilton is out with a stomach bug. He started feeling poorly on Monday, but chalked it up to hard racing, according to US Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover.

But he did not improve, and Grover said it was apparent that it wasn’t merely the result of hard competition.

Like Andy Newell, whom he joined on the sidelines, Hamilton has been isolated from the rest of the team.

However, before the sickness was evident, Hamilton traveled in the same van as the rest of his teammates on the long trip from Germany to Italy.

Grover said he was concerned about the health of the team and the possibly of the bug being passed around.

At this point no decision has been made as to what Newell and Hamilton will do moving forward.

The big decision is whether or not the two men travel to Val die Fiemme, the final stop on the Tour.

It will depend in large part on how quickly they recover.  Newell is already feeling better according to Grover.

Toblach, Italy – Wet new snow and a glazed track made for another challenging classic day for the men’s 5km prologue.

Canadians Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw both had disappointing performances, placing 18^th and 29^th respectively.

Harvey found the warm-up loop too flat and was not able to spike his lactate prior to his race—an essential piece of his pre-competition preparation.

The first part of the race ended up serving this warm-up function, and Harvey stiffened up.

Harvey headed up the first climb.

He told FasterSkier that his body felt good and his skis were excellent, and that he is “pissed” with how the day went.

“I couldn’t warm up anywhere else,” Harvey said “It is the same for everybody, but I need a hard warm-up.”

Kershaw had other issues. Hailing from Canmore, Alberata, Kershaw doesn’t get many opportunities to race on hairies—the classic ski preparation that involves roughing the kick zone with sandpaper, but not applying wax.

“I just wasn’t able to transfer the power like I usually do in classic,” Kershaw said.

He sees his ability to ski hairies as a “weakness,” with the problem rooted in trust.

“In your head you know there is no wax – so it is hard to trust it,” Kershaw said.

Kershaw is in 5^th in the overall standings, 1:29.8 behind leader Dario Cologna (SUI), while Harvey is 15^th, +2:33.5.

Harvey.

The final Canadian racer, Ivan Babikov was not a sure thing to start until this morning.

Babikov crashed hard in the skiathlon in Berstdorf, and there were initial concerns that he broke his wrist.

The X-rays were negative, and after warming up today, he decided he could race.

Babikov placed 72^nd in the 78-skier field.

A full report on Babikov will follow.

What with the rainy racing in Oberstdorf on Saturday, and the dry roads headed up into the Dolomites, it was a relief to drive into Toblach/Dobbiaco last night in a snow storm. Real snow. Big flakes, falling quickly and silently onto us, dusting us in white and in big grins.  We found a pizza place – prosciutto, salami and onions – with delicious sudtirolian beer: a great combination of the best that Italian and German culture have to offer.  Then we went out last night around 11:30 and skied down the road and found the stadium, which is amazing – the ski course actually climbs up and over the dome-shaped ski center. (Unfortunately, we suffered some damage to our skis passing under a small bridge where there was, er, no snow.) Still, awesome to feel like we’re finally in winter.

Now with a brilliant bright day, the men are warming up for their race, and it’s a classically classic waxing challenge. Wet new snow close to freezing. The tracks are highy glazed in many places: that wobbly, clattery stuff you get in these conditions.  Corners are going to turn to mush.

The course features a number of gradual longer climbs – very skiable. There will be a fair amount of double pole.

Here’s hoping that everyone finds the perfect wax.

The Polish media are reporting that Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) is suffering from a knee injury that may threaten her completion of the 2012 Tour de Ski.

Kowalczyk, who currently leads by 27 seconds heading into the Tour’s fifth stage on Tuesday, has a swollen knee but is taking anti-inflammatories to combat the problem, according to the website Sport.Pl.

NRK has some quotes from the Norwegian skiers about their rival.