Cyprien Richard triumphed in the premiere of the invitational race known as the World Alpine Rockfest held in Paganella, Trentino (ITA) two days before Christmas.
In the final round of the special giant slalom competition, the Frenchman beat the Swiss Carlo Janka and the Italian Davide Simoncelli as well as Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal. Given the winner-takes-all format, Richard collected the prize money of € 100'000.
The finale of the top 18 was carried out in four rounds. The first final round with all 18 participating athletes skiing a GS run was won by Marcel Hirscher (AUT), the second round of the top 12 by Richard, the third round of the top 8 by Simoncelli before Richard was fastest again in the final round of the top four.
"It was like a breath of fresh air," praised Bode Miller, who has regularly been training in this region and participated despite his ankle injury which will keep him away from the Bormio downhill after Christmas. The evening culminated in a concert by the band called Placebo. "Nobody has ever organized such an event. Today, the racers were absolutely at the forefront, "praised Simoncelli.
Unfortunately the poor weather with rain and snow showers limited the crowd at the site that is only accessible by gondola.
For more information, visit www.worldalpinerockfest.com
