Alexis Pinturault took his twentieth World Cup win and tenth Giant Slalom win with a come from behind attack that saw him over haul first Stefan Luitz and then first run leader Marcel Hirscher. Hirscher dropped to third with a second run that was littered with small time costing errors, even grabbing and catching gate that stayed in his hand for the majority of the run after then. With Mathieu Faivre taking fourth and Henrik Kristoffersen fifth, the strength in depth of the Men’s Giant Slalom World Cup is as intriguing as it is exciting.
It is not often that you see a certain Ted Ligety struggling to qualify for the second run. Ligety finished in 30th place, just 0.01 ahead of Samu Torsti (Finland) in 31st. Is Ligety losing his golden touch or was there another reason for this? Talking after the second run, Ligety explained that having spent a month training on super grippy snow in Colorado, to change to the soft fresh snow that Val d’Isere is experiencing at the moment, required a change in technique and set up, something that he was unable to do as quickly as the conditions required. From having raced in Beaver Creek the Sunday before, the change in time zones and travel did not help either, he added.
With Hirscher leading after the first run from Stefan Luitz and Pinturault, the three were separated by just 0.12. Kristoffersen was three tenths back and Ligety was 2.38 back. It was set up for a cracker of a second run. With the start for the first run lowered by about six gates due to the wind, there was little scope for recovering from a mistake for any of the racers if they wanted to be challenging for success.
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VAL-D'ISERE, FRANCE - DECEMBER 09: Marcel Hirscher of Austria in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Giant Slalom on December 9, 2017 in Val-d'Isere, France. (Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom)[/caption]
Ligety started off the second run and this was a much happier and confident racer. The American was still not on his A game but this was a vast improvement to his first run, he admitted after the second run. While the wind had not helped him either it took until Victor Muffat-Jeandet came down to dislodge him from the Audi Leaders Chair.
Thomas Fanara, another of the top racers looking to recover his form, gave the French hope of success in taking the lead away from Muffat-Jeandet. With eleven to go, Manuel Feller kept the French quiet in posting an even quicker combined time before he was dislodged by Mathieu Faivre. Faivre won the opening Val d’Isere Giant Slalom last year in La Daille but not the race down the Bellevarde.
While Faivre withheld the attack by Henrik Kristoffersen, he could not withhold Pinturault. Faivre was still much happier with his skiing than he had been last time out in Beaver Creek where he made a huge error on the first run that saw him fail to make the second run.
With Pinturault looking to defend his Criterium Premier Neige Giant Slalom win from last year, Stefan Luitz did not quite have the power and edge to stay ahead of the Frenchmen (0.02 was the difference after the first run) and he slotted into second, shaking his head with frustration as he left the finish area.
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VAL-D'ISERE, FRANCE - DECEMBER 09: A general view during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Giant Slalom on December 9, 2017 in Val-d'Isere, France. (Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom)[/caption]
Then it was a case of waiting to see how Marcel Hirscher could cope with the deteriorating second run course and the French crowd all willing him to go slower.
Small mistakes by Hirscher cost him chunks of time and he only had 0.12 over Pinturault from the first run. When he caught the flag in his hand, the distraction of this did not help him and he finished just over half a second behind the Frenchman.
After the race pinturault explained “A home win is always something very special. To win a race is always nice. It was very, very difficult today. It has been seen that Marcel risked a lot but made mistakes. I think it will be a very, very tough fight again this year. It was difficult at Beaver Creek, so I had problems. There it was another slope, flatter. If it's steeper, then it's better.”
For Hirscher, his description of his second run and its consequences were explained “It was my own mistake, so annoying. I took a rounder line and took a hit. But I am annoyed with myself but I have not taken a gate by the hand for a long time. Of course I'm there that I risk everything and try. That worked out in Beaver Creek. With the ankle I am actually happy - the foot holds even under the most extreme conditions. It's certainly up in the setup - but also with myself. You can always get more out of it.”
After the race Hirscher added that he believes that the Overall this year will be decided between Henrik Kristoffersen and Alexis Pinturault. With Kjetil Jansrud holding on to the Overall lead at the moment, could a comment like this come back to haunt him?
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