Five-time Olympic champion Klaebo, was in touch with the leaders until the halfway point but didn’t have the reserves to keep pace when Anger and Mika Vermuelen of Austria broke away. The Norwegian eventually finished down in 15th, 18.3 seconds behind Amundsen.
So what went wrong? “I don’t know, it just didn’t work,” said a visibly upset Klaebo. “(I will) just go home now.”
He will be hoping for happier times on the next stop of the World Cup circuit, his home course Trondheim. It’s the scene of his heroics earlier this year, where he won six out of six 2025 World Championship gold medals, and a fitting place for him to seal a century of wins.
Elsewhere, Sweden’s Jonna Sundling won the women’s race in a time of 20:24:9, ahead of USA’s Jessie Diggins in second, 2.3 seconds back, while Heidi Weng of Norway took bronze, 2.8 seconds back.