5 star Cuche wins in Kitzbuehel
The outpouring of emotion as he crossed the finish line was there for all to see. Didier Cuche had two days earlier announced his retirement from the sport that he has been a figurehead of for the last few seasons. Already holding the record for the number of wins jointly with Franz Klammer, Cuche now holds the record at five wins on his own. The weather Gods tried their hardest to get the race cancelled but such is the prestige of the race people were ringing up the race organisers to see how they could help. They were told to go to the finish area and bring a shovel. 50,000m3 of snow fell since Thursday on the course and a lot of it had to be moved off the course if the race was to happen. It did and the record books will show that Didier Cuche won in the town where he won for the first time in his career and for the fifth time down the Hahnenkamm.
The race started off with flat light and dark clouds. Not ideal for fast skiing. The start was dropped down to Alte Schneise so old favourites and classic sections of the course like Mausefalle and Steilhang were missing from the course. Some 45 seconds of track would not be used. The shortened course meant that errors would be super costly. Just ask Bode Miller how this affected him: Miller was going well and would certainly have been challenging for a podium when he caught an edge and his pure strength meant that he did not crash or injure himself.
Joachim Puchner, a rising talent within the Austrian team was the first to show his hand and lead for a long time. With each name that came down through the clouds and into the finish, failing to better his time, Puchner could start to believe the impossible. Guay, Feuz, Miller and more all could not better his time.
Then his dream was crushed.
Cuche was fast at the top yet lost time by the second split. By the third split he was closer yet still behind. Puchner stood anxiously in the finish as with each split, he still lead. Cuche knows how to ski the finish run in to the finish at Kitzbuehel like no other. The Zielschuss is one of the great run ins in world skiing. Racers were doing 130kmh / 80 miles an hour on their skis. While Cuche was not one of the quickest on the speed gun, what he did do was take a smooth line so that when he crossed the line at the finish it was he that had the green light. Victory could be his.
Going 19, Cuche still had some of the best downhillers of the moment to come. The Austrians do not like being beaten in their own backyard and it is now six years since the Austrians have won in Kitzbuehel, Michael Walchhofer was the last in 2005.
Romed Baumann, from just up the road in Hochfilzen and Klaus Kroell both came within a whisker of rectifying this but if the weather Gods had to let the race run, then the one they wanted to win was the newly acclaimed Emperor of Kitzbuehel, Didier Cuche.
Baumann, Kroell and Puchner took the next three places giving the Austrians some comfort but still, the man on the top step at the Zielhaus prizegiving is Didier Cuche.
After watching his record breaking run, Franz Klammer was full of admiration for the Swiss racer and had no problem in saying that “records are meant to be broken,” when asked what he thought of Cuche now holding the record in his own right.
Who said nice guys don’t win?
