Southland's Corbin Strong leads Tour de Wallonie after stage win
“I’ve been thinking about this week here for a couple of months now.”
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Southland’s Corbin Strong has delivered what has been described as an “impeccable performance” to win stage two of the Tour de Wallonie in Belgium on Wednesday morning [NZ time].
The stage victory means Strong has also moved into the race lead.
“I’ve been thinking about this week here for a couple of months now,” Strong said.
“Training went really well, I’m really happy with how the form is, and it’s nice to come here and get the win.
“I think if you watched the stage today, it was such a privilege to be a part of this team today, he said of his Israel – Premier Tech teammates.
“They were all behind me – I even thought to myself in the last three kilometers, with the work my teammates did today, that I better pull this one off! They all rode really strongly – Schultzie, Clarkey, Dylan in the final kilometers, they all did a dream lead-out. I always think that on a finish like this, if I’m not coming from too far back, they suit me really well. I had a lot of confidence in myself today.”
Strong has now won races in each of his three professional seasons with IPT: the opening stage of the Tour of Britain in 2022, a stage of the Tour de Luxembourg in 2023, and now this success in Belgium.
The 24-year-old holds a three-second advantage over his nearest rival on GC, Red Bull BORA-hansgrohe’s Jordi Meeus, with three others sitting within 10 seconds of him.
Three more days of punchy terrain awaits the riders, and Strong sais he will do all he can to keep hold of the leader’s orange jersey.
“I think I’ll be surprised if tomorrow’s a sprint – it’s a really hard day, but I’m looking forward to giving it a go and seeing if I can keep the jersey to the end of the race.”
Following the Tour de Wallonie Strong will line up in the men’s road race at the Olympic Games in Paris.