Next up is Tour de Ski; six race days across eight days between 28 December and 4 January, ending with the Final Climb – a 10km Mass Start Free that ends with a gruesome section up an Alpine slope. For Cross-Country fans in Andorra, Tour de Ski is a special event, del Rio said.
“I remember watching it during the holidays with my family when I was younger. I really like the Tour de Ski, especially the Final Climb,” she said.
“You can see big changes in the general overall standings – it’s my favourite race to watch. Racing, I haven’t finished a Tour yet, so I don’t know”
An Andorran favourite
The difficulty of the Final Climb makes it a race where names not often in the top-10 to get good results, and Andorran Cross-Country fans know this well. Last year, Ireneu Esteve Altimiras, also from the country of around 88,000 people, finished fifth in the Men’s Tour’s grand finale.
The 29-year-old has made it into a World Cup race top-10 eight times, five of which have come in Val di Fiemme’s last event.
“He always does a super good Final Climb, so in Andorra it is quite a famous race. We knew that he could do a good result, so we always watch this race. “When I was a little kid in the ski club, we were always looking forward to that,” del Rio said, adding that she “will try” to become Andorra’s next big thing.
“I want to do it good. I will try to do my best there. And I’m also hoping to do a good race in the 5k – the new format. I think it could be a good race for me, but I will try to do my best and play my cards.”