Each Tour de Ski has consisted of six to nine stages, held during late December and early January in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

The skier with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears the gold bib, representing the leader of the overall standings.

The Tour de Ski was established in 2006 by FIS, after ideas emerging on 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.

[1][2] 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.

However, as neither Austria or Switzerland were interested, the opening two stages were to be held in Nové Město na Moravě in the Czech Republic.

[3] A week before the Tour was due to start, FIS announced that snow conditions in Nové Město were not good enough, and cancelled the two races there.

Norwegian athletes said "it was a good concept",[7] German winner Tobias Angerer claimed that the Tour de Ski "has a great future",[8] Oberstdorf in Bavaria was originally scheduled to host two stages, but cancelled as the German Ski Association could only arrange a race on 2 January.

[12] Newspaper comments were divided: in Expressen's opinion, the finish was the "most enjoyable competition seen in years,"[13] while Roland Wiedemann in Der Spiegel said this "should be the future of cross-country skiing".

[14] Critical commentaries appeared in Göteborgs-Posten, criticising the fact that sprinters didn't have a chance in the overall standings,[15] and Wiesbaden Kurier, describing it as a reality show and a skiing circus.