Klaebo, who finished ninth in the men's mass start race in the same German resort yesterday, returned to the top of the podium today with victory in a time of 35min 7.5sec, on the 15 kilometre course.

It means, with two stages to go in Val di Fiemme in Italy this weekend (January 5 and 6), the triple Olympic champion leads the overall standings by 5.4 seconds in front of Russia's Sergey Ustiugov.

Ustiugov kept up the chase by finishing second today, just 0.4 seconds behind in 35:07.9.

Third was claimed by his compatriot Alexander Bolshunov in 36:15.7.

He also sits third in the overall standings.

On the women's side, Østberg claimed her second win in as many days with victory in the women's pursuit race.

She crossed the line more than 30 seconds in front of her nearest challenger in 26:21.2, meaning she now leads the overall Tour by 35.4 seconds.

Russia's Natalia Nepryaeva, who is second overall, also finished second today in 26:51.6, while Jessica Diggins from the United States, who is third overall, took bronze today in a time of 27:33.8.

It all means that with two stages to go, the overall standings appear to be taking shape.

The athletes will now have a rest day tomorrow, before taking to the snow once again on Saturday (January 5) for another mass start race in Italy.

The Tour will then finish on Sunday (January 6).

All of the Tour de Ski events also count towards the Cross Country World Cup standings.