Excellent conditions ushered the FIS World Cup 1999/2000 tour into the year 2000 today with the third snowboard cross race of the season. Some riders deemed the course a bit too flat after yesterday's practice, but they all seemed to like the slope today after the organizers of the sixth World Cup stage at Les Gets, France, worked on the obstacles again to make them more challenging.

	Duclos

Vipérine used to be an unknown expression to most of the people involved in the World Cup but this changed today thanks to the win of a 21-year-old Frenchie...

Sylvain Duclos, who lives a 20-minute drive from Les Gets, at Cluses, faced a cheering crowd of his family, friends and his fan club, all pushing him through the course in the final round where he finally met his top competitors: Sweden's Pontus Stahlkloo, Zeke Stegall from Australia and the Finn Joni Vastamäki. It was a big challenge, considering all three are among the world's best snowboard cross riders.

"It couldn't have been any better. I'm at home, all my friends are here, the whole family, just everyone. This is one of the best wins I will ever have...."— Sylvain Duclos, FRA

But Duclos, last year's SBX World Cup champion, showed little fear and managed to stuff his second-ever win under his belt. "It couldn't have been any better," Duclos said, "I'm at home, all my friends are here, the whole family, just everyone. This is one of the best wins I will ever have," he said. "I think the course lacked a bit in length, which would have made it even more exciting but I the people along the slope liked it a lot so it was fine. We could get them a good snowboard show today. Honestly, I was kind of thinking about a win today, all those people cheering at me really got me thinking positively and I wanted to get them something back. Here we are!"

Pontus Stahlkloo (SWE) finished 2nd and added a third podium to his list. "I had 2nd and 3rd each before," the Swede stated, "a 2nd place is not a win and I'd like to make one, maybe at one of the faster courses to come, but I'm fine with today's result."

Zeke Stegall took the bronze after missing success in the first two snowboard cross races of the season due to health problems. "It's good to be back," he said, "and I will try to carry on now." Beside his second consecutive win, Duclos also took the lead in the SBX World Cup standings, ahead of Stahlkloo and Vastamäki.

	Fingerlos

Fingerlos Back in Form
Last year's Snowboard Cross World Cup champion, Ursula Fingerlos from Austria, had only been ranked 11th before today's race after bad luck at the previous events but she used the holidays for a special training and got the reward with taking her first win this season.

"I'm really happy," she said, obviously feeling relieved. "The season was anything but good for me so far, I always qualified but never got any further than the first heat in the finals. Over Christmas I did a lot of freestyle riding together with my boyfriend and he never stopped pushing me. This was good practice and apart from that, I also have much more fun again now."

France's Marie Laissus took the silver ahead Alessandra Pescosta from Italy. "I think I'm a bit more relaxed this year," Pescosta said, "and I also had a better training. It looks like snowboard cross fits me more than halfpipe. I only did my first race at last year's finals and wasn't aware how much fun it is." Laissus is leading the SBX standings ahead of Pomagalski and Fingerlos, who has now started her attack to defend the title.

But what's the story behind this Vipérine? At the awards, Sylvain Duclos was handed a bottle of schnapps and...a snake! A common usage among friends in France, it's based on a famous French movie called "The Bronzés font du Ski", or the bronzed one's ski. This movie tells the story of two people from Paris who come to a French ski resort and have a special dinner where they were offered traditional food and schnapps...which they were not quite used to in a big city...Cheers Sylvian!

—Britta Semmler, MountainZone.com Correspondent