The heroic deed of the Valais: Boisset makes it into the top 10 under impossible circumstances

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That Cyprien Sarrazin (29) is an exceptional driver in every respect became apparent about 18 hours before the start of the Hahnenkamm descent. Longtime racing office manager Peter Eder (54) was quite perplexed on Thursday afternoon when the Frenchman appeared in his office. Eder to Blick: “Cyprien came to me with his teammates because he wanted to thank us personally for arranging tickets for the relatives. “That really surprised me, because racers usually think about other things when they prepare for such an important race.”

Before Sarrazin and Co. Marching back to the hotel, Eder takes a strong drink from his cupboard: “We toasted the race with an apple and pear schnapps.”

Odermatt takes the 63rd place on the podium

Perhaps it is this fruit brandy that gives the 29-year-old the final kick on the Streif. With jersey number 14, Sarrazin rides a series that is five hundredths faster than the series of Florian Schieder (28) from Zuid Triol. And our superstar Marco Odermatt (26)? The Nidwaldner delivers good, but not excellent, performance. In the final count, the Lauberhorn winner finished in third place, three-tenths behind. “From the first corner I noticed that everything didn’t fit together perfectly this time,” he says.

Was the material arrangement not optimal? “I can’t expect the line-up to fit perfectly thirty times in thirty races.” Yet Odermatt has every reason to be happy this time, as this result equals the 63rd podium place of his career. Sarrazin celebrates his third World Cup victory in Kitzbühel after successes in the Super-G in Wengen BE and the downhill in Bormio (It).

The moral winner comes from Valais

Before the second Hahnenkamm descent within 24 hours, Odermatt is particularly satisfied with the forecasts of the meteorologists, who predict an extremely cold night. As a result, the Streif will probably be completely frozen during the great revenge. And on ice, the two-time World Cup winner from Lake Lucerne will be difficult to beat, even by a Sarrazin in gala form.

The focus is now on Arnaud Boisset (25), from Valais, who becomes the moral winner in the first Hahnenkamm act! The racing driver from Martigny gets off to an excellent start with number 53 and is only 14 hundredths behind the best time in the second split.

But then he is waved away with the yellow flag because a skier falls on the local mountain. Boisset is flown back to the start by helicopter. “It’s not a cool feeling when you do so well on patrol and get thrown out. And it was difficult for me to rebuild my concentration for the restart. But when I saw that I had good split times until the yellow flag, I was sure I had the right concept for this route.”

Boisset and his summer job

And on the second attempt, Boisset almost caused the big sensation: he was in the lead until the fourth split! De Romand lost over a second over the local mountain to the finish, but it was still enough for the first top 10 position in his World Cup career. “The best thing is that after this incident I won the battle against my own head,” says Boisset, who, like winner Sarrazin, stands out for his particularly risky driving style. «I see life as a game, I like risks. And because my technique is not as brilliant as Marco Odermatt’s, I have to work with more effort.”

But Boisset doesn’t just focus on ski racing. He has completed a degree in economics and works in Geneva at a private bank between April and September. «I need balance when skiing. And because I normally work from Monday to Friday in the summer, I appreciate the special life in the ski circus even more in the winter.” A truly extraordinary guy, this Arnaud Boisset.

Source : Blick