The Norwegian recorded a time of 29mins 58.8sec to finish 10.6 seconds ahead of France's Maurice Manificat at the Nordic Arena in the Italian resort.

Manificat claimed his second medal in a week following his gold in Davos, Switzerland, last weekend.

After his victory, Krueger said: "It's great to finally win a World Cup race.

"I have been fourth twice this season.

"I thought my shape was good and I was hoping for a good performance and hopefully a podium.

"But to be first today, it's absolutely amazing."

Third place was taken by Andrew Musgrave of Great Britain, who finished just 0.9 seconds behind Manificat to take the final place on the podium.

"This is my first proper World Cup podium," the Briton said.

"All the previous ones were for the fastest times in pursuit competitions.

"One of them was also in Toblach so I knew I could ski here fast.

"Today, everything fell in the right place.

"I am in a good shape and I was skiing well.

"My classic has not been great this year but I am in a good position, I am hoping for another good result."

The initial favourite for the event, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, had a disappointing day, finishing down in sixth.

However, he still leads the overall rankings with 652 points, 250 in front of Alexander Bolshunov of Russia.

Sweden's Charlotte Kalla returned to winning ways in the women’s event with victory in the 10km.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist had been second behind Norway's Heidi Weng at all the intermediate timing points, but managed to increase her pace dramatically towards the end of the race to take gold in a time of 22:40.1.

This gives her a 124-point lead over Weng at the top of the overall rankings.

Kalla said she felt confident before going into today's race.

"I worked a lot in the summer on skiing fast on the flats," she said.

"I knew it was important here in Toblach.

"I love racing here and it was nice to see it worked.

"I had amazing skis, the team did an amazing job and I had great fun skiing today.

"I felt my body was responding so well."

Despite her consistent performance throughout the race, Sochi 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Weng eventually finished third following a disappointing final few kilometres.

Compatriot Ragnhild Haga took silver ahead of her in a time of 22:45.9 with Weng a further eight seconds behind.

Despite a disappointing end to the day, Weng said she was happy with her efforts.

"I'm satisfied with my performance today," she said.

"I've always had a hard time on this track, but the last few kilometres were really tough today.

"I had the impression that I could hardly move.

"However, the result of the race showed me that despite all the problems I can keep up with the best. 

"I can build on that."

The competition continues tomorrow with the pursuit events.