Pinturault, who was in the lead after the first run, beat Austrian Philipp Schörghofer by 0.47 seconds. Another Austrian, Marcel Hirscher, was in third 0.69 seconds adrift.

Hirscher nevertheless extended his lead in the overall World Cup rankings and is now 293 points ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, who was fourth today.

Hirscher could secure the overall World Cup victory in Sunday's slalom.

The best Slovenian today was Žan Kranjec in 16th.

Today's giant slalom was held in Kranjska Gora as replacement for Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Alpine resort will host a giant slalom and slalom as part of the traditional Vitranc Cup.