VAL D’ISERE, France: Defending World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria protected his first-run lead to comfortably win a giant slalom race yesterday after challenger Alexis Pinturault of France made a clumsy mistake three gates from the end.

Hirscher, who was third in Saturday’s slalom, won by a margin of 1.16 seconds ahead of Germany’s Stefan Luitz, with American Ted Ligety climbing up from sixth to finish 1.42 behind in third place on the Stade Olympique de Bellevarde course.

The 20-year-old Luitz had by far the best time of the afternoon to climb from 25th after his first run and secure the first podium of his career.

“It’s hard to believe. But I had the perfect start conditions early on with the (better) light and visibility,” Luitz, who is in the German army, said through a translator. “I knew there was a chance to do something. I think it will take all night for this to really sink in.”

But Pinturault was left just as stunned as the home fans by his own error as he caught an inside ski and put his hand down with the finish line in sight, missing out on the chance of a second straight success after winning Saturday’s slalom. Pinturault had been second after the first run, but finished 28th.

Ligety has three giant slalom podiums this season and was looking for a hat trick of victories after winning the last two races.

“Val d’Isere’s always tough, it’s not a hill I particularly like,” Ligety said. “It’s not very user friendly, it’s very steep the whole way.”

Ligety was unhappy with his first run, where he finished sixth, but found some satisfaction with his second.

“I’m happy to salvage it,” he said. “I’m happy to walk away from this hill with a podium when it could easily have been a DNF (did not finish).”

Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who finished sixth, leads the overall standings with 440 points, while Ligety is in second place with 402 and Hirscher is third on 380.

Last week, Ligety narrowly edged out Hirscher to win at Beaver Creek, Colorado, thanks to a faultless second run, but he lost time on the bottom section yesterday and looked frustrated, lowering his head as he crossed the line.

Tina Maze wins World Cup giant slalom

In St. Moritz, Switzerland, Tina Maze of Slovenia won her third straight World Cup giant slalom Sunday to extend her lead in the overall standings, and Lindsey Vonn placed 27th after almost crashing out.

Maze held her morning lead to finish 0.08 seconds ahead of Viktoria Rebensburg, the Olympic champion from Germany, in a total time of 2 minutes, 11.07 seconds. Tessa Worley of France was third, trailing Maze by 0.55.

Vonn hit trouble midway down her second run after her skis appeared to touch. She came out of rough snow to complete the race and score some valuable World Cup points.

Maze got 100 points and now leads by 234 from Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, who placed ninth. Vonn is third, 263 behind Maze.