ALTA BADIA, Italy — Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won a World Cup slalom Monday for his second podium finish in two days on the Gran Risa course.

Kostelic won with a two-leg combined time of 1 minute, 39.83 seconds. He placed second in the traditional giant slalom Sunday, his best career result in the discipline.

He has now won eight slaloms, and labeled this the best weekend of his career.

"It's the first time that I've been on the podium twice in a row," he said.

Jean-Baptiste Grange of France, who won the season's opening slalom in Levi, Finland, finished second — 0.20 seconds behind — despite posting the fastest second run.

"I had two strong runs. They weren't perfect but I'm really pleased," Grange said. "Today Ivica was just beyond reach. He's skiing very confidently in three disciplines."

Olympic slalom champion Benjamin Raich was third, 0.80 back.

The top American finisher was Ted Ligety in 12th. Tim Jitloff of Reno, Nev., was 15th for his best career result.

Kostelic had his sister Janica, the retired skiing great, with him all weekend.

"I listen to what she has to say. We've been talking a lot about tactics in the second run and inspection," he said. "She's one of the best skiers in history and I would be stupid to ignore her."

Grange retained his lead in the slalom standings with 180 points. Kostelic is next with 145 and defending overall World Cup winner Bode Miller is third with 80.

Miller split a gate during the opening run and was disqualified.

The American finished second in Levi for his best slalom result in four years and was skiing well again on the upper section, matching Kostelic's time at the first checkpoint, then cut a gate too close for his second unfinished race in two days — and his sixth in 13 events this season.

"He was skiing fine and then he just hooked his tip," said Forest Carey, the coach of Miller's independent team. "It sounds like a broken record but it was another tough break."

Miller was heading to Paganella in the nearby region of Trentino for some tech training, then will travel to Bormio on Thursday before the year's final downhill Sunday.

Current overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was 34th in the opening run, failing to qualify for the second leg. Svindal still holds a 430-393 lead over Raich in the overall standings.

Several other slalom specialists also failed to finish the first leg as they struggled on the hard snow, including world champion Mario Matt, Reinfried Herbst and Manfred Pranger of Austria, last year's runner-up Felix Neureuther of Germany and another American, Jimmy Cochran.

Monday's race was originally scheduled for Val d'Isere, France, but was postponed due to heavy snowfall in the French resort earlier this month.