Henrik Kristoffersen got back to winning ways with a measured performance that saw him edge out the man of the season so far, Marco Odermatt for the win with Manuel Feller taking a second successive podium in Giant Slalom with third place. The top five were rounded out by Patrick Fuerstein from Austria and Luca di Aliprandini.
This was a race of contrasting runs. Matthieu Faivre had been excellent on the first run to take the lead but had then disappeared on run two to drop down to 16th overall with the slowest second run time, Kristoffersen on the other hand had been seventh on the first run but with the third best time on the second run had battled his way up to the race win.
The racer to watch on the second run was the performance of Patrick Fuerstein as he posted the fastest second run time after having been in 27th after the first run to move up 23 places. Atle Lie McGrath was another to take advantage of the conditions on the second run with an early start as he went from 29th after the first run into 12th with the second fastest second run time.
Last season was a battle for Kristoffersen and he spoke extensively about the struggles he was having. After the race he commented: “It was a struggle last year. So we found something,” Kristoffersen said. ”You see today that everything is possible. I’m not saying I will win every race but now we have the opportunity to ski good every race.”
Such is the secrecy in terms of technological advances, Kristoffersen was not saying what he had improved on with his Rossignol's.
Kristoffersen won the race in 2019 in Alta Badia, the last GS he had won, but felt that this was the first time he had won as the 2019 race had been down a shortened course. Such things mean a lot to the Norwegian. This was still World Cup race win number 24.
in taking second, Odermatt extended his lead in the race for the Giant Slalom Globe but mentioned the effect the calendar was having: “Two GS days is really hard,” Odermatt said. “It’s one of the most exhausting giant slaloms anywhere on the tour, and having two of them (is tough).”
For Feller, his all round prowess is certainly on the up with this podium. With Marco Schwarz still recovering from injury and not troubling the business end of the race, Feller is taking on the role of team leader in the tech races.
With Faivre dropping like a stone on the second run and Pinturault having a very ordinary day, he mentioned feeling very lethargic after the race, Odermatt is taking a firm grip on the Giant Slalom standings already.
No rest for the men as they go again in the morning.
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