Hinterstoder (Austria) (AFP)
On one of his favorite tracks in Hinterstoder (Austria), Alexis Pinturault is slaughtering his last cards this weekend to pick up the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Henrik Kristoffersen and join the fight for the big crystal globe.
Pinturault developed a rather special relationship with Hinterstoder, episodically on the program of the Alpine Skiing World Cup: the skier from Courchevel scored his first points in 2011, a sixth place in super-G, he the technician.
And in 2016, during the last passage on the Hannes-Trinkl track, he achieved the double in giant slalom, each time in front of THE benchmark for skiing in the 2010s, the Austrian Marcel Hirscher, eightfold holding the big crystal globe and retired since September.
This stage in Austria is therefore very timely, especially since the last stage last week in Naeba in Japan did not go as planned for Pinturault, with 15th place in giant slalom, now falling behind 124 points on Kilde and 50 on Kristoffersen in general.
A combined Friday, a super-G on Saturday and a giant slalom on Sunday are on the program, provided that the weather does not come to upset everything, because snowfall and a strong wind are forecast, especially in the night from Thursday to Friday . The order of combined races was also reversed to start with the slalom and finish with the super-G.
"The cool thing is that there are a lot of races in a place where you are not used to going. It's a very nice track. It's going to be a weekend relatively long and difficult end, "said the reigning world champion in the alpine combined, who aims to become the first French winner of the Alpine Skiing World Cup since Luc Alphand in 1997.
- Kilde advantage -
In the chief's fight, it's Kilde who holds the cards in hand. The express trip to the Far East was beneficial, taking 6th place in the giant, in contact with Kristoffersen (only 5th) and ahead of Pinturault. In addition, the slalom could not take place in Japan and has still not been rescheduled.
"What is certain is that this is an even more important weekend for Kilde. They risk losing the Naeba slalom, which gives Kilde an advantage, given that he has quite a few points in advance and we have technical races that have been canceled, "said Pinturault.
In the event that Naeba's slalom is not reprogrammed, there will only be two descents - discipline that Pinturault and Kristoffersen do not ski in the World Cup - and two slaloms - that Kilde does not compete in - in addition to two giants and two super-G , until the end of the season.
For Henrik Kristoffersen, Saturday should be his first super-G. He will make his decision after Friday's combined, but the fairly favorable profile for the technicians on this super-G should encourage him to take the start.
Especially since he cannot afford to give up a lot of points to his compatriot, to join Aksel Lund Svindal, Lasse Kjus and Kjetil André Aamodt in the pantheon of Norwegian alpine skiing.
"It can suit him, because a super-G like this one, he can be in contact with the best descenders," warns Pinturault.
A good hour's drive from Marcel Hirscher's, whoever approaches the Hinterstoder test at best will take the advantage to succeed the Austrian, before the last three stages: in Kvitfjell (Norway), in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) and Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy) for the finals.
Program:
Friday: alpine combined. Slalom at 10:00 a.m., super-G at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday: super-G at 12:30 p.m.
Sunday: giant slalom. First round at 9.45 a.m., second round at 12.45 p.m.
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