Tscharnke - who had not won a World Cup event since December 2012 before his victory in Italy - finished just ahead of Kazakhstan rival Alexey Poltoranin and Daria Cologna of Switzerland.

"I felt much stronger today than at the beginning of the Tour," the winner said afterwards.

"I got better and better every stage but it's a little bit surprise for me to win today.

"Thomas [Bing] and me wanted to be in the front of the pack, we helped each other, we did not focus on sprints, we just wanted to go for a good position in the finish."

Perhaps the most impressive performance aside from that of Tscharnke's belonged to Cologna, who fell midway through the race before he eventually recovered to claim third.

The sixth event of this season's Tour de Ski provided the closest competition to date as none of the overall top five managed to make an impression.

The sixth Tour de Ski event provided the closest finish in this year's competition to date ©Getty Images



Current leader Petter Northug was 21st, Norwegian compatriot Martin Johnsrud Sundby was eighth and third-placed Swede Calle Halfvarsson finished way back in 27th.

"Today the plan was to fight for bonus seconds, I knew many skiers were saving energy for the finish," Northug said.

"The last bonus sprint cost me a lot of power, it will be a hard fight for the podium tomorrow.

"It has been a tough Tour de Ski and if you have a really bad day you can easily lose many minutes."

The surprise result was the first time in this season's Tour de Ski that a Norwegian failed to finish on the podium and also proved to be Germany's best day of competition so far.

In the women's race, meanwhile, last year's Tour de Ski champion Therese Johaug of Norway finally won her first stage of this years Tour, triumphing ahead of compatriots Marit Bjørgen and Heidi Weng in the 10km mass start event. 

Bjørgen remains the overall leader ahead of the final stage tomorrow, with the men's competition also reaching a conclusion.

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