ALTA BADIA, Italy – Max Blardone won a World Cup giant slalom Sunday and was followed by Davide Simoncelli, giving Italy a 1-2 finish and a boost for the home country before the Turin Olympics.

Canada’s Francois Bourque had the fastest second run to finish third and match the best result of his career.

Bode Miller fell and did not finish his first run but kept his lead in the overall and giant slalom standings. U.S. teammate Daron Rahlves finished fourth, losing time with a slight error at the beginning of his second run.

Blardone won a World Cup race for the second time, completing the two runs in a combined time of 2 minutes, 27.14 seconds over the steep and twisty Gran Risa course. Simoncelli, who led after the first run, finished 0.20 seconds back.

“This is another good sign for Turin,” retired Italian skiing great Alberto Tomba said.

Italy’s Giorgio Rocca won his second slalom race of the season Monday, and Blardone said he hopes Italy’s good results of late will boost Olympic interest in the country.

“We’re really putting our hearts into this and I hope this creates some attention,” Blardone said.

Miller leads the overall standings with 442 points, 17 more than Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, who finished 23rd. Austria’s Michael Walchhofer also fell in the opening run to drop from second to third overall, 22 points back.

Simoncelli was ahead of Blardone at the final split time before committing a small error.

“Max skied great, I don’t think I gave him the race,” Simoncelli said. “He won the dinner we bet on up at the start.”

It was Simoncelli’s fourth top-three finish at Gran Risa, including a victory in 2003.

Blardone had never finished higher than fifth on this course. The first win of his career was in the giant slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, last season.

“It’s great to win at home,” Blardone said. “I gave everything I had. I risked a lot in the second run.”

Miller, who won at this site in 2002, made errors throughout his only run. He still had good split times but fell after going over a small bump three gates from the finish.

Miller tried desperately to regain his balance, but failed when one of his skis came loose.

“I knew I could get my feet around the gate, so I flipped my feet around,” he said. “But then I couldn’t see the ground. The visibility wasn’t great, so when I landed I couldn’t see where I was and just snapped out.”

It was the same spot where Miller went out in the second run a year ago, and he said he expected “better tactics” from himself.

“It’s not a hard gate at all – you just can’t see it – so you have to know where you’re going,” Miller said. “I thought I knew, but I wasn’t right.”

The bump was added to the Gran Risa before last season’s race; it was not there when Miller won in 2002.

“Flat light on a hill like this makes it tough, for me anyway,” said Miller, referring to the overcast conditions during the first run. The sun came out for the second run.

AP-ES-12-18-05 1043EST