The British Cross Country Ski team for this year's Tour de Ski consists of Andrew Musgrave, Andrew Young and Fiona Hughes.
This is Andrew Musgrave's second year at the event where last season he scored his first World Cup points.  He is again aiming to complete the whole Tour, picking up some top 30's along the way, and looking forward to the end of the final, gruelling 9 km hill climb at Val di Fiemme on January 6th.
Andrew Young and Fiona Hughes are entering the Tour for the first time this year. Fiona is particularly looking forward to her first World Cup classic 10km at Oberhof on day 2.  Andrew is going to race the first three events and is hoping his recent sprint form is maintained at Val Mustair on day 3. They are both aiming to go all out in the first few days of the Tour before heading into training for the World Under 23 Championships later in January.
This year's Tour de Ski consists of 7 races over 9 days. Â It starts in Oberhof in northern Germany, then moves to Val Mustair, Switzerland, before heading to Italy first at Toblach/Dobbiaco and then Val di Fiemme. Â As in the Tour de France, individual times for each stage are added to give an overall winner. Â Last year's winners, Dario Cologna (Switzerland) and Justina Kowalczyk (Poland) are favourites again this year. Â For British skiers just completing the tour is a great success. Â Their experience in this intense environment will help the young skiers develop for the coming World Championships and Olympic qualification races.