Val d'Isère (France) (AFP)

Alexis Pinturault struck a blow on Sunday in Val d'Isère: with his first slalom victory in more than five years, he took the lead in the general classification of the World Cup.

In a slalom that was finally able to start after being canceled on Saturday due to the wind, Pinturault crushed the competition and edged the Swede Andre Myhrer by 1 sec 44 and the Italian Stefano Gross by 1 sec 47.

Since Friday, the Val d'Isère resort has been breathing at the rate of imposing "BOUM" coming from preventive avalanche releases, to secure the slopes after a significant accumulation of snow.

Sunday, under a bright sun which was made wait all weekend, it is Alexis Pinturault who made "BOUM" and hurtled down the track faster than everyone. From the first heat, with the number 1 bib, the Courchevel skier widened final gaps in front of the surprising American Luke Winters (at 59 hundredths), who did not hold the shock in the second heat (19th in the end), unlike the French, imperial.

After a huge error in the first run which condemned him for the victory, the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen offered himself the "remuntadø" of the day from 27th to 4th place thanks to the best time of the 2nd round, and limits breakage in the general classification by scoring 50 points.

It was precisely Alexis Pinturault who took the lead in the general classification with 264 points, 21 points ahead of the Norwegian. The two skiers are expected to compete for the big Crystal Globe since the announcement this summer of the retirement of the eightfold Austrian title holder Marcel Hirscher.

- 25th World Cup victory -

Pinturault thus continues a roller coaster season after highs (victory at Sölden, 4th in super-G in Beaver Creek) and lows (zero point at Levi in ​​slalom, 17th by giant Beaver Creek).

He had not won a slalom since January 2014 in Wengen (Switzerland) and thus signed his 25th World Cup victory (record for a Frenchman), the 4th in Val d'Isère (slalom in 2012, giant in 2016 and 2017 ).

After a weekend marked by bad weather conditions which modified the program several times, the big blue sky on Sunday did not succeed for the other French, Victor Muffat-Jeandet aside (8th).

The new cador of the blue slalom Clément Noël (three victories in 2019), could not finish the first round in front of "his" public, he who lived for three years in the Savoyard station between his 15 and 18 years. This retirement marks a halt after his 2nd place three weeks ago in Levi (Finland).

"It’s frustrating not even to do a full round in front of the French public, noted the Vosgien. I split up on the last part (...) there was a way to do better for the course, we knew that the English coach (author of the layout of this first round) always traces a bit haphazard. "

His teammates Jean-Baptiste Grange and Julien Lizeroux came out at the same door, in the last third of a tricky and fatal first run for 27 runners (25 did not finish, 2 were disqualified).

Due to the snowstorm that raged on Friday and Saturday, the giant, the other race scheduled for this weekend, could not be run and will be rescheduled later in the winter.

© 2019 AFP