Corbin Strong claimed the first GC victory of his pro career at the Tour de Wallonie, with the bonus seconds he earned for finishing second in Wednesday’s fifth and final stage wrapping up the win.
Strong continued his incredibly consistent week – one in which he finished every stage on the top 10 – with an assured performance on stage 5, which took place on a typically-Belgian circuit around Bertrix.
Unfazed by the hardest day of the race, which featured 3,420 meters of elevation, the Kiwi never looked like relinquishing the race’s distinctive orange jersey.
Indeed, until the final kilometer, it appeared that five riders from the day’s 12-man breakaway would stay clear of the peloton until the finish. However, on the uphill approach to the line, all-but stage winner Clément Izquierdo (COF) were caught by Strong, who reiterated his dominance over the race with an eye-catching sprint.
Having started the day with a one-second advantage, Strong ultimately won the race by nine seconds over Mathias Vacek (LTK).
He says: “I’m really, really happy to win this race. This season hasn’t gone the way I hoped it would go, so to come here and take the overall win is a really, really nice feeling. Hopefully, this is the start of a good second half to the season.
“My teammates did a really good job at the start, riding a solid pace to keep the breakaway within check, but we weren’t really too bothered about the stage win. Obviously, I only had one second on Vacek coming into today, so it was actually better for us if the breakaway took all the time bonuses. The guys did a really good job of keeping it within about three minutes, and then in the last few kilometers, Lidl – Trek took over.
“From that point on, I knew I had to just stay in the wheel of Vacek. I couldn’t let him out of my sight, and I knew that if we were coming to the line and some time bonuses were on offer, I needed to beat him.
“It was pretty touch-and-go at the finish. I really didn’t want us to catch the breakaway, but I could see them getting closer and closer, and I also knew I had pretty good legs. I came close to the stage win, but I’m really happy to wrap the GC up today.”
Consistency was key to Strong’s success. After winning Saturday’s opening stage in Nassogne, he also finished second on stage 4 and fourth on stage 3.
This GC victory also makes up for how last year’s Tour de Wallonie ended for the 25-year-old. He finished second overall, level on time with winner Matteo Trentin, having been controversially relegated for his sprint on stage 4 – something that ultimately cost him the GC after it was decided on countback.
Sports Director Pat McCarty praised Strong and his teammates for their efforts this week, saying: “The guys were pretty amazing all week. They were all on the same page, and they adapted and communicated well.
“Ultimately, we put everything behind Corbin because he’s riding so well. We could see that on day one, when he won. It was like ‘okay, this is what we’re doing’. And we thought we could win the race.
“When you have everybody committed like that and working together, it’s not easy, but it’s definitely very, very doable. We avoided some bad luck this week, and we avoided mishaps – I wouldn’t say everything went right, but, in the end, we had a really strong team and the strongest rider in the race, so it feels pretty sweet to get it done. “