Bode Miller, who mixed a GS victory with three slaloms wins (and two Olympic silver medals) a year ago, collected his first World Cup triumph of the season Sunday, taking the first-run lead in a giant slalom and holding on to win by more than a full second over Italy's Davide Simoncelli.

In climbing into the No. 2 points position overall, Miller's winning time was 2:33.81 with Simoncelli timed in 2:34.87, one-hundredth ahead of Austrian Christian Mayer, who was one-hundredth ahead of Frenchman Joel Chenal. Erik Schlopy, the only American to reach the second run, was 27th as the mens' schedule goes on a one-week break, resuming Dec. 29 with the annual downhill in Bormio, Italy.

Miller, reported to be searching for sponsors and wearing a helmet bearing a "For Rent" sign, held the lead after the first run, as he did here last year. But unlike that race, where he crashed in the final run, Miller cruised to the win, his fifth overall on the Cup circuit.

"This was a helluva Christmas present. It wasn't a good day for us but Bode has that ability to lift the entire team on a what's otherwise a poor day and still make it an awesome day," said men's Head Coach Phil McNichol.

"He pulled out a fantastic result and that's pretty cool. Everybody gets energy from Bode."

Miller, skiing third, had the fastest first run and when conditions got a little softer on the final run, causing a flip-flop in the standings, he was able to power through the gnarly snow and erase any question about when he'd win again. (He was second last Sunday in a GS in Val d'Isere, France.)

"It was good," Miller said. "It was a wait [for the win] but this was a great hill to do it on. Park City [Nov. 22 during the Chevy Truck America's Opening GS] would've been great and Soelden [the season opener Oct. 27 in Austria] would've been great, too.

"But this is one of the classics. Alta Badia's a great hill and it got me last year [when he missed a gate after leading the first run]. This was the one I wanted all year," he said.

Organizers decided not to inject the course, feeding water into the snow to make the snow harder and more firm. It led to the changes in the final finish, the Carrabassett Valley Academy racer said.

"The conditions were almost perfect," according to Miller. "It was dry, chalky snow – they didn't inject again, so it's tough and that makes for big reversals. But that also makes it more exciting. The first run is early in the morning [10:15 a.m. start time, temperatures in the low 30s] and it's colder, the hill is fresh. By the second run, it's warmer and the course is kinda beaten up and reversals happen."

He led the first run by .51 over Switzerland's Didier Defago with Chenal in third place. Schlopy was 23rd and Simoncelli was 26th, 2.26 seconds back.

"Simoncelli took a pretty aggressive tactic. He ripped it," Miller said, "and won the second run handily. I could've won the second run if I took the risks, but I knew what I had to do; it would've been pretty risky to try to win that second run."

"It was different on the second run. A lot of things mixed up," McNichol added. "Simoncelli started early [starting fifth in the flip-30 format] and when Bode came down, he had beaten those guys by up to two-and-a-half seconds in the first run. So, he was able to put in a decent run, but maybe he was a little conservative, but it was well played.

"Bode's definitely on his game in GS and his slalom [no points after two SLs] will get there. He skied smart again today and got the win."

Miller moved into second place behind the injured Stephan Eberharter of Austria, who is expected to return to racing in perhaps two weeks after injuring his right knee in the first run of that Val d'Isere GS. Eberharter has 548 points to 433 for Miller; in GS, Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland leads with 278 points to 225 for Miller.

After the Bormio downhill next Sunday, the men move to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom Jan. 4 and slalom the next day.

— Courtesy US Ski Team with additional material from MountainZone.com staff