Intro:

Germany's Felix Neureuther won the third World Cup slalom race of the Alpine Ski season at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy on Monday (22nd December).

Script:

The third men's slalom event on the World Cup calendar took place at the Italian resort of Madonna di Campiglio on Monday.

Jens Byggmark was making his return to action following a knee injury last season.

The Swede chased down fellow Scandinavian Henrik Kristoffersen's first round lead on the slalom by a 10th of a second & with it took his first podium finish since 2012.

Fritz Dopfter was the man who took second place here in Italy. The German hadn't finished in the top three since October 26th, yet he clocked ahead of Byggmark by four hundredths of second.

With Felix Neureuther's main rival for the Slalom title - Marchel Hirscher - finishing down in 11th, the German knew this was a golden opportunity for World Cup points.

Neureuther was in cruise control as he led by over half a second at the first checkpoint.

The German's combined time was 0.82 seconds better than Dopfer's and his tenth World Cup win.

The victory taking him to 240 points and a lead of 24 over Hirscher in the slalom standings.