sentences:  Frode Estil of Norway was the defending champion and lost it in the final meters of the event to fellow Norwegian Hjelmeset in a race where the lead changed hands continuously, as more and more people fell off the leading group.At 5 km, the top three were Eldar Rønning (Norway), Jean Marc Gaillard (France), and Dan Roycroft (Canada), in a peloton still consisting of nearly 60 skiers.Rønning and Roycroft would fall off within 25 km, while Gaillard stayed with the peloton for nearly 40 km.