When Hegstad Krüger went out on his last lap, he had Hans Christer Holund right in front of him in the track, who turned in to finish as the leader.
And sat in the leader's chair where he had to wait until Hegstad Krüger drove to the finish in a crushing Norwegian dominance where they had the top six in today's competition over 20 km free.
At the same time, the first 27 riders in Östersund's mass start over 20 km in the Scandinavian Cup were Norwegian.
There, however, a couple of Swedish skaters with national team merits participated.
Sweden was missing its two best distance skiers.
William Poromaa threw in the towel a couple of hours before the start with mild cold symptoms and Calle Halfvarsson had decided in advance to forgo Davos in order to have the best effect on the long-term plan for the WC in Planica in February.
Johan Häggström became the best Swede in 13th after a well-disposed race.
At the halfway mark he was only 27th.
Jens Burman was the second best Swede in 27th after sprinting with Hegstad Krüger – who went out two minutes behind.
Yesterday's sprint winner Federico Pellegrino had gone back to his heavily pregnant wife in Italy and also missed the start.