Italy's Federico Pellegrino wonders why skiers who have crossed the time limit are allowed to continue in the Tour de Ski.
Italian star skier Federico Pellegrino accuses the Tour de Ski jury of unequal action Perttu Hyvärinen to win the race.
Hyvärinen celebrated his first World Cup competition victory on Sunday, when he was the fastest in the 10 km (p) race in Toblach, Italy.
Hyvärinen had a sensational stroke and won the race overwhelmingly with a difference of 16.2 seconds from Norway to Erik Valnes. The breakneck pace meant that in the end more than ten skiers should have been kicked out of the tour,
According to the rules, the time must not be more than 15 percent slower than the winner in order for the skier to continue in the Tour. 12 men exceeded the time limit, but the jury pardoned the men.
Pellegrino's think the jury should have followed the rulebook. Thanks to the jury's decision, for example, the Italian's strong sprint resistance against the French Lucas Chavanat was allowed to continue on the tour and will fight for the top spots in the Davos sprint on Wednesday.
“I think the decision is bad. I remember when I was just a sprinter at the beginning of my career and I had to fight really hard to stay in the Tour. And now I see this… it's not fair,” Pellegrino stated for Aftonbladet.
“If Fis (International Skiing Federation) wants to change the rule, they have to do it before the race so that everyone knows it.”
Pellegrino says Chavanat is not the problem.
“The problem is that they don't respect the rules and all the skiers.”
“If it had been my teammate or a young Hungarian guy [Adam Konya]and Chavanat wouldn't have been out of bounds, they'd be home already. “It's not fair.”
Competition Manager Michal Lamplot denies Pellegrino's claims that the decision was influenced by the athletes' names or nationalities.
“We just looked at the results list.”
Lamplot says that the decision was influenced by the absence of many skiers before and during the Tour. Fis may not comply with the rule in exceptional cases.
“It has not been identified. The jury has changed time limits before.”
“Part of the criticism received by the jury is due to Lucas Chavanat. If he hadn't been in that group, I think a large part of the criticism would have been missed.”
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