Biathlon: Vittozzi grabs the yellow bib before the last race, 4 French women in the top 5

Italian Lisa Vittozzi seized the yellow bib as leader of the general classification of the Biathlon World Cup with one race remaining in the season after her pursuit victory in Canmore, Canada, on Saturday.

Vittozzi, who started in the lead after her success in the sprint on Thursday and author of a 19 out of 20 in shooting, won ahead of two French women who both missed three targets, Lou Jeanmonnot, second at 12 sec 2/10, and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, third at 19 sec 4/10th. Two other Blues complete the top 5: Julia Simon (3 faults) and Gilonne Guigonnat (2 faults), respectively fourth and fifth at just over a minute. Close behind Vittozzi in the race for the big crystal globe before the pursuit, the Norwegian Ingrid Tandrevold only ranked 19th at 1 min 49 sec 6/10, after four faults behind the rifle (all standing).

So much so that on the eve of the last race of the winter, a mass start, the Italian doubled her in the general classification and even took a 61-point lead, with 1071 points against 1010. Better yet: the Italian from 29 years old gets his hand on the wire on the little globe of the pursuit, to the detriment of Simon (398 points against 384).