Prague  - Arianna Follis of Italy claimed the women's Tour de Ski lead after three stages with a sprint victory on Monday while Swiss Dario Cologna retained first place overall on the men's side of the cross-country skiing event.

Tor Arne Hetland of Norway won the men's freestyle sprint in the Czech capital from Vassili Rotchev of Russia and Frenchman Jean Marc Gaillard.

Cologna placed eighth which was good enough to retain the lead after three of seven stages with a 45 minutes 1.4 seconds. Rotchev trails by 15.4 seconds in second place and Gaillard is third, 18.1 seconds off the pace.

Follis won the women's sprint ahead of World Cup leader Aino kaisa Saarinen of Finland and strong Slovenian Petra Majdic as World Cup champion Virpi Kuitunen lost the overall lead over a 17th-place finish.

Follis has 32:23.9 minutes with Saarinen just 8.0 seconds behind and Norway's Marit Bjoergen 13.1 seconds adrift.

The Tour de Ski continues after a rest day Tuesday in the Czech resort of Nove Mesto on Wednesday with a men's 15km and women's 10km classic style race.

The series culminates in Sunday's finale in Val di Fiemme, Italy. The overall winners get 400 World Cup points and a cheque of 85,295 euros (119,500 dollars) each. (dpa)