Overall leader Federica Brignone was fastest in the opening run of the women´s World Cup giant slalom on Tuesday as the Italian attempts to make up lost ground in the discipline standings. Brignone led defending overall champion Lara Gut-Behrami by 0.19 seconds, with Olympic GS champion Sara Hector 0.27 behind in third. The top five were separated by half a second. Julia Scheib looked set to challenge Brignone´s lead and had an advantage of nearly half a second but the Austrian skier fell on the lower section of the steep Erta course at the Kronplatz resort. Brignone and Hector have each won two of the opening four GS races but Hector had a 96-point advantage in the standings coming into Tuesday´s race after Brignone fell in the first run of the previous GS in Kranjska Gora. Brignone has a 106-point lead over Camille Rast in the overall standings. In the absence of the injured Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan was the leading American racer, trailing Brignone by 1.15 in 10th. Lindsey Vonn, who made her return to World Cup racing in Switzerland on Dec. 21 after nearly six years of retirement, competes only in the speed events of downhill and super-G.