A demanding course with a solid front.
Then the Swedish lords prepare for the worst in Pokluca.
It can be really awful, says Jesper Nelin.
The fact that the 30-year-old Piteå rider was rude over the Christmas and New Year holidays doesn’t make things any better.
– I started a little. Me and Sepe (Samuelsson) drove a test race the other day, so I got to the start. It’s hard at first when you’ve been resting for a while, says Jesper Nelin.
The difficult path awaits
On Friday afternoon, the men’s biathlon hit the tracks in Slovenia’s Pokluca. The course is known as one of the toughest in the World Cup.
– Yes, but it also largely depends on what the weather is like. If it’s like yesterday’s introduction, it’s really awful if I’m being honest, Nelin says.
– If it’s like today (Thursday), great, but the course is obviously tough. I hope it’s a quick introduction, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like it.
So maybe it would be really awful on the track?
– Mmmm, and then it’s going to be a long roll. I can say that, Nelin laughs.
Samuelsson returns after illness
Sebastian Samuelsson is also ready for a sprint over 10km on Friday.
– There are steep up and down courses with curves etc. There are no real recovery periods that I feel. If the front is loose, of course, it will be hard for that reason, says Samuelson.
He also caught a cold during the break, but has been back in training for just over a week now.
– I was very careful in the beginning and I feel like I fit in very quickly. Then it’s very hard to know how I stand against the best. But there’s nothing that says things have to go bad just because you’ve been sick, right?
The men’s race starts at 14.20.
