The Tour de Ski might be a bit of a challenging concept for some audiences to follow.
The winner of the
Tour de Ski is the skier who has been overall the best in the seven-stage tour. This means that the first skier at the top of Alpe Cermis might not necessarily be the same person who wins the entire competition. The accumulated total time along with bonus seconds collected throughout the journey plays a crucial role.
Bonus seconds
Bonus seconds are obtained from sprint races and a climbing point at 8.5 km in Val di Fiemme (January 6, 2024). In past years, the Tour has seen versions where the top three from each race got bonus seconds, but this year, it's different.
From sprint races, bonus seconds are given to the top 30 according to the table below. In the climbing point (8.5 km) of the 15 km mass start, the top 10 get bonus seconds.
The bonus seconds are subtracted from the athletes' total time for the entire Tour.
Bonus seconds
| Place | Sprints | Mass start 6.1.24 |
| 1 | 60 | 15 |
| 2 | 54 | 12 |
| 3 | 48 | 10 |
| 4 | 46 | 8 |
| 5 | 44 | 6 |
| 6 | 42 | 5 |
| 7 | 32 | 4 |
| 8 | 30 | 3 |
| 9 | 28 | 2 |
| 10 | 26 | 1 |
| 11 | 24 | |
| 12 | 22 | |
| 13-15 | 10 | |
| 16-20 | 8 | |
| 21-25 | 6 | |
| 26-30 | 4 | |
Starting order
For the first time in the Tour, we'll tangibly see the impact of bonus seconds on Monday, January 1, in the 20 km pursuit. For this competition, athletes will start based on the results of Saturday's sprint race qualification and the accumulated bonus seconds, along with the Sunday classic interval start times.
Simplified example: Pål Golberg wins the sprint and gets 60 bonus seconds. Golbert also won the qualification with a time of 3:00. Thus, Golberg's total time in the Tour standings is 2:00. Calle Halfvarsson finished 35th in the sprint qualification with a time of 3:15. Halfvarsson doesn't receive bonus seconds, so his total time is 3:15.
Note: The Davos 20 km pursuit does not start based on the Tour standings but on the previous day's sprint race results.
The final climb Alpe Cermis doesn’t begin as a pursuit based on the overall standings but as a mass start.
Points competition
To make things not too easy to follow, the Tour de Ski also features a separate points competition. Points are awarded to athletes in each race for the top ten. The top three in the points competition earn cash prizes as follows:
6000 Swiss francs (approximately €6400)
3200 €
2150 €
Also, check out: Tour de Ski prize money
In sprints, points are awarded based on the final results, but in other races, points are awarded at the first TV intermediate point, except in Val di Fiemme's mass start: at the stadium and the beginning of the final climb around 6 km.
Points
| Place | Sprints | Other (excl. sprints) |
| 1 | 30 | 15 |
| 2 | 24 | 12 |
| 3 | 20 | 10 |
| 4 | 16 | 8 |
| 5 | 12 | 6 |
| 6 | 10 | 5 |
| 7 | 8 | 4 |
| 8 | 6 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 2 |
| 10 | 2 | 1 |
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