OBERSTDORF, Germany — Canada's Alex Harvey shrugged off a broken pole and poor conditions to race to fifth on the cross-country Tour de Ski on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Harvey started fourth in the pack of 67 athletes, crossing fifth in a time of 29 minutes 53.8 seconds. He remains fourth overall.
A day after heavy rain and high winds forced cancellation of the fourth stage of the seven-race Tour, the weather wreaked havoc with the event once again as skiers raced on a modified course.
"It was complete mayhem out there today and I think made our sport look bad," said Harvey. "The conditions were sketchy. Guys were crashing everywhere. The course is so flat that everyone was skiing in a large pack and people were breaking poles. They should have just held an individual start race."
Harvey tried to ski smart near the front, but broke a pole on the second last lap before fighting his way back into fifth place on the final 2.5-kilometre loop.
Emil Iversen won the mass start men's race, while Norweigan teammate Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg won the women's event on the fifth stage of the Tour de Ski.
Despite finishing fourth , Switzerland's Dario Cologna stretched his lead in the Tour de Ski to 53 seconds over Sergey Ustiugov. The Russian was 28th in Oberstdorf.
Iversen won in 29:49.8, edging Norwegian teammate Sindre Bjoernestad Skar by 0.4 in a sprint. Italy's Francesco de Fabiani was 0.9 behind in third. Cologna was 3.7 behind.
Oestberg, who won her third successive distance event, extended her lead in the seven-stage competition to 57 seconds over compatriot Heidi Weng, who was 11th in Oberstdorf.
The tour continues with the sixth stage at Val di Fiemme in Italy on Saturday.
The Canadian Press
