Tour de Ski: Bauer, Kuitunen lead after 5 events

NOVE MESTO NA MORAVE, Czech Republic — Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic and Aino Kaisa Saarinen of Finland won men's and women's classical cross-country races Wednesday, the fifth leg of the Tour de Ski.

NOVE MESTO NA MORAVE, Czech Republic — Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic and Aino Kaisa Saarinen of Finland won men's and women's classical cross-country races Wednesday, the fifth leg of the Tour de Ski.
    Bauer, the overall tour leader, completed the men's 15-kilometer course in 38 minutes, 26.9 seconds, edging out Jens Arne Svartedal of Norway by 27.8 seconds. Russia's Nikolay Pankratov finished third, 28.5 seconds behind.   
    Bauer is leading the tour with an overall time of 2 hours, 2 minutes, 4.0 seconds, with Tord Asle Gjerdalen of Norway second, 2:07.3 behind. Italy's Pietro Piller-Cottrer is third, 2:32.8 back.
    The races are part of the second edition of the Tour de Ski after its inauguration last year. The tour includes eight races in 10 days, and the overall time winner gets 400 World Cup points.   
    Saarinen completed the women's 10-kilometer race in 28:55.7, beating her teammate and defending tour champion Virpi Kuitunen by 2.6 seconds. Norway's Therese Johaug was third, 13.3 seconds behind.
    Kuitunen took the overall lead, 25 seconds ahead of Sweden's Charlotte Kalla.
    The tour will be completed with the final three events in Italy's Asiago and Val Di Fiemme scheduled for Jan 4-6.

    — The Associated Press