Jean-Baptiste Grange won a slalom race on Monday for his first World Cup victory.
The Frenchman was fastest in both legs on the Gran Risa course and had a combined time of 1 minute, 36.12 seconds to move to the top of the slalom standings.
Felix Neureuther of Germany was second, 0.74 seconds behind, and Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety of the US was third, 1.40 out.
PHOTO: EPA
Neureuther moved up from fifth after the opening run, while Ligety jumped from 12th position.
Olympic slalom champion Benjamin Raich and Bode Miller both skied off course in the opening leg.
Grange leads the slalom standings with 176 points. Marc Gini of Switzerland, who finished seventh, is second with 149 points, and Raich is third with 136.
Grange won the bronze medal in slalom at last season's World Championships in Are, Sweden. His previous best World Cup result was a second-place in a super-combi in Beaver Creek, Colorado, last month.
Grange said he was angry after failing to qualify for the second run of Sunday's giant slalom on the Gran Risa.
Andre Myhrer, Markus Larsson and Mario Matt -- 2-3-4 after the first run -- skied off course in the second leg. Manfred Pranger, who was seventh, and Jens Byggmark, who was ninth, also had trouble.
Grange's coach Jacques Theolier set the second run.
Reinfried Herbst finished fourth and celebrated the birth of his son on Sunday by putting a pacifier in his mouth for the post-race honors.
The German matched his best career result, set in his hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen last winter.
Neureuther's mother Rosi Mittermaier was an Olympic champion and his father Christian was also a successful World Cup racer.
Ligety failed to complete his opening run in the first two World Cup slaloms of the season and a Europa Cup race last week. It was his third podium of the season after two top results in giant slalom, good enough to lead the event's standings.
Ligety placed fifth in Sunday's GS after being penalized for showing up a few minutes late to the public bib draw the night before the race. He was forced to start 46th and fined 999 Swiss Francs (US$867).
Raich was the first skier on course in the opening run and went out after 30 seconds.
"It's the first time I've gone out in a slalom since last year here," Raich said. "Once a year is OK."
Raich still holds a 521-453 lead over Didier Cuche in the overall standings.
Miller veered off course eight seconds in and didn't finish the opening run for the second day in a row after breaking his binding in the giant slalom.
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