The first on the Rettenbach: they are all glued, De Aliprandini can recover. Kilde is already out

Giant of Soelden: Gino Caviezel surprisingly commands mid-race, but Kranjec, Kristoffersen and Pinturault are just a few cents away, while the blue pays 57 cents. At 13.15 the 2nd heat.

Sunday 18 October 2020 4 minutes reading time

A first heat on a spectacular Rettenbach, with marble terrain and a shining sky. The men's World Cup opening offers a very balanced challenge, as could have been foreseen on the eve, between the protagonists of a giant from Soelden who, halfway through the race, sees Gino Caviezel in front of everyone. In reality, however, everything can overturn in the second (scheduled at 1.15 pm), since the big names are very close to the Swiss, starting with Zan Kranjec (bib 1) who was clearly the best on the wall and will pay off in the end only 6 cents from the leader, with Kristoffersen and Pinturault at the wheel, respectively 10 and 15 cents from Caviezel, but the French made a mistake on the wall, with an inclination that could have cost him dearly, which probably prevented him from finding himself in test as on the occasion of the last two successes on the Austrian glacier. Setback and derailment instead for the winner of the last World Cup, an Aleksander Aamodt Kilde who, after the best first intermediate, went out on the wall already losing an excellent opportunity to score points. Norway which, in addition to HK94, proposes Lucas Braathen in front of him, sixth here in 2019 when he discovered himself in the world and by now already a certainty: fifth time at 24 cents from the top for the twenty year old of Brazilian origins, ahead of Loic Meillard and Marco Odermatt with the latter who messed up in the upper part, however, clearly signing the best time in the last 10 seconds on the flat. And Italy can count on a Luca De Aliprandini on the border of the top ten, preceded by Nestvold-Haugen and a couple of tenths ahead of Ted Ligety, but only 57 cents behind Caviezel; there are many rivals in front and with a good margin, but the Trentino rider did very well in the final stretch and can certainly "fix" a wall where he suffered in this first one. (updating)

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