The reigning World Cup holder has now moved into second in the overall standings, despite a difficult second run.

His victory was his 30th career World Cup win, bringing him up to 10th on the all-time list.

Two consistent runs for 20-year-old Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath ensured he would win silver, marking the first time the young skier had made the podium, finishing just 0.07sec short of Pinturault.

Switzerland's Justin Murisier also claimed his first World Cup podium, finishing third 0.24sec behind the Frenchman.

His team-mate Marco Odermatt narrowly missed the podium in fourth, dropping down to third in the overall standings.

The United States' Tommy Ford was fifth, while Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was sixth and maintains his lead at the top of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup overall standings.

Pinturault was the quickest by more than two tenths on the first run, followed by Croatia's Filip Zubčić, Odermatt, McGrath and Norway's Lucas Braathen.

The Frenchman will be thankful that he held such a commanding lead after the first run, after his second attempt was only 15th quickest, by enough to allow him to hold on to the gold by less than a tenth of a second. 

Zubčić struggled even more on his second run, dropping down to 10th; while Odermatt had similar fortune to Pinturault, but only fell one spot from his first run.

McGrath had the strongest second run of that provisional top five, expressing his delight after coming through the finish line.

Braathen suffered a similar drop to Zubčić, faltering to 18th.

Italy's Riccardo Tonetti, who has never made the World Cup podium, had the quickest time on the second run, but only finished 11th following a poor first run.

Ford and Murisier were two of the quickest late runners to move themselves into fifth and third respectively.

The second day of competition will see the slalom take place tomorrow in Alta Badia.