Faivre clinches first-ever World Cup win in front of home fans

With French skiers occupying four out of the top five places, there was plenty to keep spectators interested with only World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher breaking up the home dominance in second place.

It was in fact two-time giant slalom world silver medallist Hirscher who narrowly led after the first run when he posted a time of 1:11.63, 0.01 ahead of Faivre.

Alexis Pinturault piled on the pressure on the second run with a strong effort which put him 1.11 ahead of current leader Thomas Fanara before Faivre bettered it to take the lead with just Hirscher remaining.

The Austrian, winner of the overall World Cup globe five times in a row, tackled the course aggressively but was unable to make up the time on his rival, eventually finishing with a combined time of 2:25.50, 0.49 seconds off top spot.

That meant the celebrations could begin for Faivre whose time of 2:25.01 saw him finally claim his first World Cup win, and also moved him up to third in the giant slalom standings behind Hirscher.

Third on the day went to Pinturault, 1.11 minutes back, with Fanara fourth and Victor Muffat-Jeandet fifth.