Alexis Pinturault is aiming for the big crystal globe during the alpine skiing finals in Lenzerheide, from March 18, 2021. -
Marco Tacca / AP / SIPA
The final events of the Alpine Skiing World Cup season take place from Thursday in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, after Wednesday's downhill was canceled.
Alexis Pinturault, leader of the general classification, will try to win the big crystal globe, a first for a French skier since Luc Alphand in 1997.
For that, he will have to start again after the last disappointing races, which melted his lead over the Swiss Marco Odermaat.
We don't know if that will be enough, but this time, at least, Alexis Pinturault can count on a little help from fate.
Unhappy a year ago with an end of the season truncated by the coronavirus when he arrived launched to steal the big crystal globe from Aleksander Kilde, the French skier, this time in the hunted position, can thank the sky.
The cancellation of the descent on Wednesday, due to heavy snowfall in recent days, is great news for him as he begins the final rounds of this World Cup season.
Pinturault has indeed seen for three weeks the Swiss Marc Odermaat come back to full blind in his retro, to the point of seriously challenging him the famous big globe, given at the end of the season to the leader of the general classification.
Before the Worlds, in mid-February, we thought the Frenchman (more or less) quiet with a comfortable mattress 317 points ahead.
And then everything was packed.
An advance that melts faster than the ice floe
Pinturault did not explode in flight, but in the line of championships below his objectives (double medalist but not titled), he clearly slowed down the pace, between bad luck and small mistakes that cost dear - here a second round of Géant with only one stick (Bansko), there a slalom run off the track (Kranjska Gora).
For his part, Odermaat let go and at this moment gives the impression of flying.
Victorious of the Super-G of Saalbach and the Giant of Kranjska Gora, he could descend with his eyes closed that he would still light green at the bottom.
Result, he has only 31 small points of difference between the two men.
The cancellation of the descent is a cartridge less for Odermaat, much more comfortable in the exercise than the Frenchman, of whom it is the only big weak point.
The new Swiss terror (23) could legitimately hope to scratch a few points there, before the frontal fight during the super-G on Thursday, and even more during the giant slalom on Saturday.
"It's part of our sport," Pinturault reacted from Lenzerheide.
It's been a few years since there had been canceled runs, this year there are two.
But what mostly changes for me is not knowing how the track is, how it will be for tomorrow [Thursday].
"
Small slalom with a view of the resort.
- JEANNE ACCORSINI / SIPA
The Courchevel skier played it rather sober, therefore.
He wasn't going to jump to the ceiling anyway.
Downhill or not, these finals promise to be electric.
But if the current dynamic is not favorable to him, we must not forget the essential: it is he who is in the lead before the first sticks.
This is what his team repeated to him after the ugly weekend spent in Kranjska Gora, at the end of which Pinturault gave way to a certain defeatism.
"It's a whole, there is nervous, physical fatigue, I am straining a bit when I reach the end of this season," he said on Sunday.
I am not on an upward slope.
I'm trying to put things into perspective, but it won't be easy.
I can't express myself as I would like, it has a frustrating side.
"
The calculator on off
A sleep later, it was already time for remobilization.
“We talked a bit, but we didn't go on forever.
There is no need for an extended debriefing in these cases, observes his trainer Fabien Munier.
At the time, Alexis was a little stunned by what happened, but that's how when you're an athlete, you stay focused on what you missed.
There was surely a bit of nervousness, and subconsciously, it took over a bit.
You have to tell yourself that it is an experience, and that they are all good to take.
He must use it.
"
Translation, he must succeed in turning off the little calculator that has started up all by itself in his brain since January.
Munier continues:
“As the winter progresses and the results are good, it just happens on its own.
We start to say to each other on such and such a race "here I have to ensure a minimum", that kind of thing.
Alexis found himself in the position of the calculating guy, and it's not the right frame of mind to win the general.
I think he figured it out this weekend.
"
So for these finals, on the Silvano Beltrametti track, according to the coach, a single watchword: “Have fun and send hard.
"Still the best way to become, on Sunday, the first French skier to reign in the alpine world since Luc Alphand in 1997." It would be deserved if he won, in relation to his versatility, his number of Cup victories of the world and its place in the history of skiing.
It would be good if it were part of his record, ”says Fabien Munier.
Succeeding Alphand would also allow Pinturault to gain some ranks among the most famous French sportsmen.
Because despite his 33 World Cup victories, a figure which places him tied with Bode Miller in the top 10 of the best skiers of all time, the Savoyard is not raising the crowds here.
We explained to you why in a previous paper.
Who is the stronger, the globe or the victories?
For Munier, however, this globe would represent a personal achievement more than an end in itself.
Even in the small world of skiing.
"It would be the icing on the cake, but the cake must already be pretty at the base," illustrates the technician.
Last year he won six times, he scored the season, even without the big globe.
This year, he has four wins and seven podiums [not counting the Worlds], it's already a good season.
The Alphand Globe in 97, we remember it because we are talking about it now.
But in my opinion, we especially remember Luc Alphand who won Kitzbühel twice on the same day.
For guys who follow skiing, it talks more.
"
Not totally wrong.
We would be delighted to be able to open the debate on Sunday evening, in any case.
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