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Michael Roesch won in front Raphael Poiree by 1/100ths of a second in a down-to-the wire finish in the Ruhpolding men's 12.5km pursuit after having caught the Frenchman after the final shoot. Russian Sergei Tchepikov finished a close third, lacking the space necessary to pass the two leaders.



RE-LIVE
Poiree pours it on


As Raphael Poiree led by 30 seconds in front of his main rivals after 8.8 kilometres in the 12.5-kilometre race, despite missing two shots on the third shoot, the possibility of a Poiree double appeared likely. (His wife Liv Grete Poiree won the women's pursuit earlier in the day.) But Poiree's miss on the final shoot made this much more difficult.

Out of the range, he found Michael Roesch hot on his trail and a trio - Sergei Tchepikov, Pavel Rostovtsev, and Stian Eckhoff - working together to cath him, four seconds behind.

In the final kilometre, the trio caught up and the race ended in a sprint between Poiree, Roesch, and Tchepikov, with a second photo finish for the day with German crossing the line first. Poiree was a close second, while Tchepikov was prevented by the narrow strip of track from fully deploying his forces.