ALPINE:

Paganella Rockfest unites the thrill of GS, the passion of rock

Dec. 26, 2009 — Paganella Rockfest action

PAGANELLA, Italy — France’s Cyprien Richard conquered the giant slalom course Dec. 22 to snag top honors at Rockfest, a unique athletic and entertainment event to promote ski racing.

Richard topped Carlo Janka, Davide Simoncelli and Aksel-Lund Svindal in the finals after three knockout matches on the Pian Dosson’s Olympic slope 2. Richard took home a winning prize of 100,000 euro.

In a dazzling spectacle enhances by spotlights and controlled flames, 28 racers  from the White Circus created an adrenaline show on the extreme slope (60 percent grade) — the most technical slope in Paganella. The event was punctuated by a concert by the group Placebo.

In the final phase of four athletes, Richard was faster than Janka by .08, with Simoncelli .16 back and Svindal .32 behind.

Earlier, elimination rounds had pared down the field, knocking out Bode Miller, Felix Neureuther, Marco Buechel, Manny Osborne-Paradis, Tommy Ford, Marcel Hirscher, Tim Jitloff and Christof Innerhofer. In the semifinals, Ted Ligety, Marc Berthod, Julien Lizeroux and Alberto Schieppati bowed out. Austria’s Hirscher had registered the best time of the first round (29:22).

The event was produced by Top Out Sports, headed by former U.S. Ski Team men’s coach Phil McNichol

“Beating champions like these gives me a great confidence for the next races,” Richard said after the victory. “Winning a cheque of 100,000 euro, it is not so usual and it gave me great emotion. … I found an extraordinary passion. The match between ski and rock is ideal. [Now I rest] and this evening I will be in the first line at the Placebo concert.”

Simoncelli regretted coming so close to a win. “You have to try to put yourself into my shoes — arriving near to 100,000 euro gets me angry, and I am fed up with going to the podium one or two steps under the winner. I hope to fill the gap in the giant slalom in Adelboden. The thing that I appreciated was to cut across the finish line with my favourite song [‘Thunderstuck’ by AC-DC].”

Miller admitted that he didn’t face the final phase in his best physical condition. “I had pain in the right ankle,” Miller said. “On top of that I got the ski [setup] wrong. … The World Alpine Rockfest has a great future. It’s an original and organized event.”

Steve Forrest, the drummer for Placebo, attended the giant slalom. “I had never been on a ski slope in mountain,” Forrest said. “It was a great discovery! I am sure that I’ll come here again. Ski or snowboard? I like surfing and perhaps it’s better [that I ] snowboard. … I found a very friendly contest and I wanted to shake Bode Miller’s hands — he’s a [legend].”  SRC