The Tour de Ski was modelled on the Tour de France of cycling[3] and the idea has been reported to come from a meeting between former Olympic gold medallist Vegard Ulvang and Jürg Capol, the International Ski Federation's (FIS) chief executive officer for cross-country competitions, in Ulvang's sauna in Maridalen, Norway.

[4][5] Their idea was to create a stage competition consisting of different events which they expected would lead to several days of continuous excitement before the most complete skiers would become Tour de Ski champions.

[4] The overall results were based on the aggregate time for all events, as well as bonus seconds awarded on sprint and mass start stages.

Justyna Kowalczyk, Petra Majdič, Kateřina Neumannová, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, Claudia Künzel-Nystad, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Vibeke Skofterud and Kristina Šmigun were listed as "outsiders" or dark horses.

[6] In the men's event, Tobias Angerer was the favourite, with Yevgeny Dementyev, Tor Arne Hetland, Petter Northug, Eldar Rønning, Anders Södergren, Jens Arne Svartedal and Axel Teichmann all listed as challengers.