ALTA BADIA, Italy, 19 December 2005 — Massimiliano Blardone won the second World Cup race of his Alpine skiing career when he led an Italian one-two in a giant slalom on home snow yesterday.
Blardone was second behind teammate Davide Simoncelli after the first leg but reversed the positions with a storming second run to win in two minutes 27.14 seconds, 0.20 seconds ahead of his fellow Italian.
Canadian Francois Borque celebrated only the second podium position of his career with third, a further 0.08 seconds back.
American Bode Miller just held on to the overall World Cup lead despite skiing out in the first leg. His closest challenger Michael Walchhofer of Austria, also failed to finish the opening run on the Gran Risa course while Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal finished down in 23rd place. Blardone’s only previous World Cup triumph came in giant at Adelboden last season and he was delighted to get his second success in the Dolomites.
