Hinterstoder (Austria) (AFP)
Fourth in the super-G on Saturday, Alexis Pinturault scored "big" points to launch his decisive weekend in Hinterstoder (Austria) and relaunch himself in the race for the big crystal globe, well helped by the release of the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde .
Alexis Pinturault feels at home at Hinterstoder, a track where he scored his first points in the World Cup (6th in super-G in 2011) and where he remains on two giant victories (2016). "I try to continue to weave my links with Hinterstoder", slips, with a mischievous smile, the skier from Courchevel after his race.
Saturday, he started with bib 6 on the Hannes-Trinkl track under the sun, to make a nice passage just 24 / 100th from the local of the stage and winner of the day, Vincent Kriechmayr, left with the first bib , a wise choice as the track has deteriorated.
"It was not easy to feel good today. Despite everything, I have a very good run, I tried to try, to take risks. I was fairly direct overall. is a great race, "said the 28-year-old Frenchman.
- Kilde's fall -
Less than two tenths from the podium, "Pintu" was looking even higher. "Unfortunately, it didn't play much. Behind, there is a big hole, but in front has tightened," he said, while the podium was completed by the Swiss Mauro Caviezel ( +0.05) and another Austrian, Matthias Mayer (+0.08).
By doing his share of the work, Pinturault put pressure on the current leader of the Alpine Skiing World Cup, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who left just after him. And it was on a rather unexpected fall of Kilde that the fight for the general resumed all its spice.
Because so far, Kilde had not dropped many points this season: only once (in 23 races), in the first round of the giant in Beaver Creek (Colorado), he had not crossed the line, otherwise he always scored points.
On snow difficult to ski on the top of the track, the 27-year-old Norwegian took the fastest start on Saturday, but went to fault one third of the track, falling without gravity on his back. "When you take risks, it happens," said Kilde.
- Kristoffersen in the points -
Pinturault did not ask for as much to make a sacred close in the general classification: his 50 points of the day allow him to return to 74 points of Kilde. And the French's favorite races are coming: an alpine combined on Sunday (a super-G round then a slalom round), and a giant slalom on Monday, if the weather permits.
What to look again towards the top of the ranking, when Kilde seemed to have the cards in hand to succeed the Austrian Marcel Hirscher, eightfold holding the big crystal globe and retired from the slopes since September 2019.
"It is not a good thing to be out today, but it is part of the game. Sometimes some skiers go out, sometimes we are good, and sometimes not so good," said philosopher Kilde.
And in the fight for three for the general, Kilde is the only one not to have scored points on Saturday, in his strong discipline, since Henrik Kristoffersen took 22nd place in his first super-G, despite an unfavorable bib (N. 32).
Result: Kilde is still in the lead, but sees Kristoffersen return to 65 points and Pinturault to 74, all ten races from the epilogue of the season.
"He always has the advantage in the sense that he had a lot of points ahead when he arrived here," said the Frenchman.
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