Deneriaz denies Austria domination
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Delighted Deneriaz triumphs ahead of his Austrian rivals
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VAL GARDENA, Italy (Reuters) -- Frenchman Antoine Deneriaz spoiled Austria's party when he won the Val Gardena World Cup downhill race for the second consecutive year on Saturday.
Hans Knauss had looked set to win an incident-packed race, with a string of Austrian team-mates behind him.
That was until Deneriaz tore down the course to wipe nearly a second off Knauss's time in a race halted several times because of crashes.
World champion Michael Walchhofer skied into second place, 0.89 seconds behind Deneriaz's one minute 52.99 seconds, to ensure the Austrians held on to five of the top six places.
"This is a huge win, even bigger than last year's. It's just incredible," said a delighted Deneriaz.
"I knew Knauss was in the lead but I really didn't expect such a race. I felt fast, I knew I could go quickly and as I was going down I thought to myself: 'Come on take a chance'. It really is fantastic."
Walchhofer's second place ensured that he retained his lead in the downhill standings ahead of compatriot Hermann Maier who finished fifth.
"I made a few little mistakes but not enough to explain away the time difference. I have no regrets though, Deneriaz did a brilliant job," Walchhofer said.
"My aim today was a good clean run and to defend my downhill lead and I was pleased I was able to do that."
Fritz Strobl, finished fourth with defending World Cup overall champion Stephan Eberharter in sixth place.
American Daron Rahlves, winner in the downhill at Beaver Creek two weeks ago, made a blistering start to his race but lost time on the bottom half and had to settle for joint seventh with Austrian Klaus Kroell.
On the injury front, a forerunner, Manuel Crazzolara was airlifted to hospital suffering from concussion, Swiss Daniel Zueger injured an arm and Italian Peter Fill escaped with a bloodied nose and broken skis after flying into safety netting.
Germany's Max Rauffer and Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal also failed to complete the Saslong course.
Meanwhile, Swiss Daniel Zueger injured an arm and Italian Peter Fill escaped with a bloodied nose and broken skis after flying into safety netting.
