Nove Mesto, Czech Republic  - Axel Teichmann of Germany got his second stage win on Wednesday while Swiss Dario Cologna retained the overall lead in the Tour de Ski cross-country series.

On the women's side, the 2007 winner and 2008 runner-up Virpi Kuitunen of Finland won the stage and claimed a slim Tour lead with it.

The former world champion Teichmann, who had dominated Saturday's prologue, won the 15-kilometres classic style stage in 39 minute 3.7 seconds.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway finished 5.0 seconds behind and Kazakh Nikolay Chebotko was third on the podium, 10.5 seconds off the pace.

Cologna trailed Teichmann by 31.8 seconds in 15th place but kept first place overall after four of seven stages in 1:24:36.9 hours. Russia's Vassiliy Rotchev is 16.3 seconds behind and Teichmann rose from 10th to third, two tenth of a second behind Rotchev.

Italy's Arianna Follis lost the women's top spot as she trailed Kuitunen by almost two minutes, with Kuitunen in awesome form over the nine kilometres for a first stage win in
24:45.4 minutes.

Fellow-Finnish World Cup leader Aino Kaisa Saarinen trailed by 37.6 seconds in second place and Norway's Marit Bjoergen was third with a deficit of 49.9 seconds.

The three also top the overall rankings in the same order, with Kuitunen first on 57:49.3 minutes, Saarinen just 5.6 seconds adrift and Bjoergen also within striking distance on 23.0 seconds.

Sprint races are scheduled for Thursday in Nove Mesto before the Tour de Ski is completed in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on Saturday and Sunday.

The overall winners get 400 World Cup points and a cheque of 85,295 euros (119,500 dollars) each. (dpa)