At the same time as Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson sprinted for bonus points and grilled the others on Ruka's tough slopes, Moa Ilar kept a cool head and saved herself for the last hill.
Then she put in the push that lasted all the way to her first victory in the World Cup.
Tactically smart, according to Gunde Svan, who knows Moa Ilar from her junior years in Dalarna.
"We're going to see a lot more of her," he says in the Winter Studio.
26-year-old Moa Ilar showed already in the Swedish premiere that she is to be reckoned with this season, when she won the 10-kilometer race in freestyle ahead of Frida Karlsson.
During the VC premiere weekend in Ruka, the big breakthrough came when she first finished fourth in the classic 10-kilometer race, and then won the 20-kilometer freestyle.
Listen to Gunde Svan's full analysis in the player above.