For Loris Vergier, it is the first World Cup victory of his career, and the 22-year-old can hardly believe it. There are tears in his eyes. "You need a good day, you have to be lucky and I'm happy that I've done it now," he says, expressing his joy: "Now I can die." Better not, because a new era seems to have dawned for French downhill bikers. After Amaury Pierron has recently won three times in a row as if out of nowhere and finished second again on this day, 1.333 seconds behind his compatriot (4:04.055) and 0.271 seconds ahead of Brook McDonald (New Zealand), the biggest trophy belongs to a Frenchman for the fourth time in five races.

Pierron leads the overall standings ahead of Vergier and Laurie Greenland (Great Britain). The two fastest qualifiers Luca Shaw (USA) and Danny Hart (GBR) made bigger mistakes.

Noel Niederberger was the best Swiss skier on Friday, missing out on qualifying in 62nd place by half a second.