Cross Country Skiing 9.02. (Otepaa)

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10 km - Classic Justyna Kowalczyk vs Aino Kaisa Saarinen Justyna Kowalczyk @ Bet365 @ 2.00 IMO good odds for better runner here. Kowalczyk won the last time in Otepaa and has overall better results as Saarinen, but true theyre pretty much the same on 10km distance. But major factor is 300 points diff on this years overall table in favour of Kowalczyk. Surely value here. Vibeke Skofterud vs Petra Majdic Vibeke Skofterud @ Bet365 @ 2.25 Surely a value on Skofterud as shes better on that 10km classical racing, Majdic would surely be fav in sprint discipline, but surely not here. IMO a fifty fifty bet and value on Skofteruds side. results here show just that, Majdic only 15th and 19th here in previous two starts, Skofterud managed 7th place here last year.

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Re: Cross Country Skiing 10.02. (Otepaa) 10 km - Classic Klaudia Nystad vs Evi Sachenbacher Evi Sachenbacher @ Bet365 @ 1.66 Backing the favourized runner in this one. Nystad looks to unpredictable and her results warry from warm to cold ones, while Sachenbacher tends to run herslef reguralry to top 10 positions. IMO despite low odds, fav should be backed here. Valentina Shevchenko vs Therese Johaug Therese Johaug @ Bet365 @ 2.10 Another value bet. Despite Russian being far better in overall standings, Norwegian beat her in 3 out of 5 races this season. Surely not too much of an edge for Shevchenko and also Norwegian racer is damn good looking blonde :tongue2, and that gives here my affection... ;)

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Re: Cross Country Skiing 10.02. (Otepaa) 10 km - Classic Olga Rotchava vs Katrin Zeller Olga Rotchava @ Bet365 @ 1.52 After slow start Rotchava find her form in 2008 and managed two top five and one top ten finishes in a row (4., 4. and 7. place to be ore exact), while Zeller is struggling lately and managed just one top ten finish in whole season - speaking of course about similar races, as difference is even greater if i look at all the races this season. Fair odds on better racer here.

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Re: Cross Country Skiing 9.02. (Otepaa) Otepaa - Mens - 15km - Classic Roenning vs Bauer Bauer @ Bet365 @ 1.44 Well imo this one should be pretty safe, as Bauer is in excellent form currently and was never worse than 4th this seasin on this distance, adding also 3 first places, while Roenning never better as 11th on this distance. Dementiev vs Mae Mae @ Bet365 @ 1.50 Imo low value bet, but domestic runner Mae always performs well on home snow and managed two 5th and one 3rd places in last wc starts here, while Dementiev dont like this slopes and avent achieved anything here so far - best finish in 2006 when he came in 12nd. Still i believe this one could be tricky as Mae is already 35 years old runner, while Russian still young with 10 years less. But imo willing to take a shot on domestic and more experinced runner. Legkov vs Pankratov Legkov @ Bet365 @ 2.25 Pure value imo, those two runners are too similar results wize, that these odds are too much. In last three races on 15km, these two were never more than 15 seconds away from each other, and in 4 out ot four races on this distance this season Legkov was the better man on the day. So this one should be tried, maybe 53-47 for Pankratov, hence value surely.

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Re: Cross Country Skiing 9.02. (Otepaa) Classic - Sprint Natalia Matveeva vs Evgenia Shapovalova Natalia Matveeva @ Bet365 @ 1.66 Battle of two 22 year old Russian cross country skiers and i surely must give Matveeva a huge edge here. Her sprint results this year are far better than from her month younger team partner. results speak for themselves and imo she should be much faster as Shapovalova in this sprint. Matveeva never worse than 8 this season in sprints, while Shapovalova only once reached the top ten this season in this particulat discipline. Evi Sachenbacher vs Klaudia Kuenzel - Nystad Evi Sachenbacher @ Bet365 @ 1.71 Neither of those German skiers is secialist for sprint discipline, but Evi looks far more consistant in this short race and constanly finishes in top twenties, while Nystad is more fond of races that last 10 or more kms. Imo fair odds for better sprinter here.