"As Chamonix is three days before the first event of the World Championships, it was one of the only options to be able to cut and be able to go for training days", explained Monday the winner of the 2020-21 season of the Coupe du world.
"It's important nervously but also psychologically to cut off the World Cup circuit a bit, before tackling the World Championships," he continued.
Pinturault, 31, is in 7th place in the overall World Cup standings.
He once stood on the podium in a World Cup event this winter, finishing 3rd in the super-G at Beaver Creek (United States) in early December.
"The slalom remains my weakest chance of a medal (at the Worlds), we must not kid ourselves, that's also why we made this choice", he underlined.
At the previous Worlds, in 2021 in Cortina (Italy), "Pintu" had won two medals by finishing 2nd in the alpine combined and 3rd in the super-G.
In Chamonix, the French team will be represented by Olympic slalom champion Clément Noël, the only Frenchman to have won a World Cup event this winter, Steven Amiez, Théo Letitre, Paco Rassat and others yet to be determined. indicated the French Ski Federation.
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