The American Bryce Bennett surprisingly won the World Cup opener for speed riders in Val Gardena with a wafer-thin margin. The best DSV driver was Romed Baumann.
After the race cancellations in Zermatt and Beaver Creek, the speed specialists had to wait a long time for their first race. The time had come in Val Gardena – and the race ended with a huge surprise. When everyone was already expecting Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to be the winner, the American Bryce Bennett with start number 34 drove past everyone and secured victory with a lead of three hundredths of a second over the Norwegian and Marco Odermatt (Switzerland/+ 0.05 seconds).
Kilde went into the first of two downhill races in Val Gardena with start number 10. He had the advantage that one of his biggest rivals, Marco Odermatt from Switzerland, was already down. And although Kilde didn’t hit the infamous camel humps optimally and had problems on the crucial passage, the bumpy, undulating Ciaslat meadow, he managed to cross the finish line two hundredths of a second ahead of Odermatt.
It was Bryce Bennett’s fault that it wasn’t the 13th downhill victory of his career. With a high start number, the US boy benefited from the now better visibility and the top condition of the track and still pulverized Kilde’s time.
Baumann is on course for the podium for a long time
Odermatt actually played into the fact that the route was significantly shortened – on Saturday it will be driven from above – and that a long gliding section was missing at the beginning. The all-rounder, whose flagship discipline is the giant slalom, also showed an aggressive run, but had to narrowly give way to Bennett and Kilde.
A German almost made it onto the podium. Romed Baumann (Kiefersfelden) coped well with all adversities and was on course for a podium finish for a long time. In the last few meters, however, the 37-year-old veteran did not reach top speed and lost valuable hundredths of a second to the competition. In the end it was enough for ninth place (+0.43).
Josef Ferstl (Hammer) also showed a good run, particularly convincing in the upper part. Like Baumann, however, he missed out on a possible even better placement in the final section and narrowly missed out on a top ten place (+0.56).
Dreßen is still following
Things didn’t go so well for the other Germans. The bumpy route in Val Gardena is certainly not ideal for Thomas Dreßen, who is plagued by injuries and his damaged knee. Accordingly, the 30-year-old from Mittenwald no longer ended up in the points, 1.22 seconds behind. Still behind him: Andreas Sander (Ennepetal/+1.46). Simon Jocher (Garmisch-Partenkirchen) had a top intermediate time with start number 31, but was eliminated after a driving error when entering the Ciaslatwiese.
Luis Vogt bruised his leg in training and was unable to compete at short notice.