Adelboden (Switzerland) (AFP)

Alexis Pinturault set the best time of the first round of the World Cup giant Adelboden on Friday, relegating to almost a second Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, 2nd at 96 / 100th, and Croatian Filip Zubcic, 3rd at 97 / 100th.

In ideal conditions for him - negative temperatures and hard snow - the leader of the big globe race widened the gap on the most selective sections, in particular the final wall at 60%.

"I may have also taken advantage of number 1, with a good grip", commented the skier from Courchevel, happy to find for the first time this season "so-called World Cup conditions, with ice" .

In the second round, starting at 1:15 pm local time, "we will have to be a little smart" on this technical and very varied route, he warned.

Among the favorites, Norwegian slalom racer Henrik Kristoffersen was 8th at 1 sec 52, and his compatriot Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, runner-up to Pinturault in the general classification and defending champion, took 10th place at 1 sec 81.

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