Tour de Ski: Kalla, Kuitinen battle for women's lead

ASIAGO, Italy — Charlotte Kalla of Sweden claimed a sprint victory Friday to close within two-tenths of a second of overall leader Virpi Kuitunen in the Tour de Ski.

ASIAGO, Italy — Charlotte Kalla of Sweden claimed a sprint victory Friday to close within two-tenths of a second of overall leader Virpi Kuitunen in the Tour de Ski.
    Petter Northug of Norway won the sixth stage in the men's competition, while Lukas Bauer retained his overall lead with two legs remaining.   
    Kalla beat Natalia Korosteleva of Russia and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland in the 1.2-kilometer sprint.
    Finnish skier Kuitunen finished 11th to narrowly hold onto her gold bib. Her overall time is 1 hour, 34 minutes, 41.3 seconds. Kalla is 0.2 seconds behind and Kowalczyk is third overall, 23.7 seconds back.   
    Northug beat Nikolay Chebotko of Kazakhstan and Norwegian teammate Tor Arne Hetland.
    Bauer, the Czech skier who is not a sprint specialist, didn't advance from the qualifying heats. His overall time is 2 hours, 4 minutes, 42.0 seconds.
    Tord Asle Gjerdalen of Norway is second, 1 minute, 17.1 seconds behind, and Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy is third, 1:45.2 back.
    Hetland and Northug are fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
    Under an intermittent snow, skiers had to complete two laps of the 600-meter (yard) course on a golf course.
    The second edition of the Tour de Ski includes eight races in 10 days with the overall winner awarded 400 World Cup points.
    The first five stages were held in the Czech Republic. The tour concludes with distance races Saturday and an uphill climb Sunday in Val di Fiemme.

    — The Associated Press