Didier Cuche is not exactly sure how or why his ski racing career is hitting top gear when the 35-year-old Swiss should be slowing down, but he is certainly enjoying the ride.
Cuche became the oldest man to win a World Cup downhill in Saturday's season opener but it was no real shock to see the Swiss standing atop the podium amid his spectacular late career renaissance.
Cuche has made plenty of trips to the podium since arriving on the World Cup scene 16 years ago but most of the time he made it only as far as the second step, finishing runner-up 23 times.
Over the last two seasons, however, Cuche has been a more frequent visitor to the top spot, winning his first world championship gold medal in the super-G while opening up the current campaign with wins in his first two events.
"It's kind of hard to explain because there are so many different things to come together," Cuche told reporters. "We have a really good coach staff and I am sure my equipment change helped a lot -- it matched as soon as I was on them (skis).
"My service man is crazy the work he does. He is so precise and works so many hours a day. You have to ski technically good but if you don''t have a ski that is fast it is hard to win.
"The biggest thing is I am feeling confident now and we will see what happens in the next days and weeks."
Cuche began his World Cup career in 1993 in Bormio but needed five years to claim his maiden victory in 1998 at the world''s most famous downhill in Kitzbuehel.
Good bet
Sixteen-years on the World Cup circuit have produced just 11 victories -- seven of those coming in the last three years.
"I think Didier is just starting to peak, he''s skiing incredibly well," said John Kucera, who finished the top Canadian (sixth) on Saturday. "Today in tough conditions came down and was four-tenths ahead, that's pretty impressive.
"He's strong in three disciplines, he's going to be favourite in every single race he's in this year."
Cuche's consistency has long made him a threat for the overall title, finishing third last season behind Norway''s Aksel Lund Svindal and Austria''s Benjamin Raich.
Svindal has been so impressed by Cuche's performance that he thinks he is a good bet to claim the crown at the end of the season.
"He's looking really strong," said Svindal. "If I had to put some money on someone for the overall, I wouldn't put it on myself because I''m not in good shape, so I put my money on Didier and I think that''s going to pay off."
Cuche himself has not ruled out a run at the coveted overall crown but with an entire season in front of him, he says he will approach the challenge one race at time.
"It's so close; you can be really fast and really successful and then crash down really hard."
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