Latest news with #CorbinStrong
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Giro d'Italia Stage 5 preview: Uphill finish could wreak havoc for sprinters as Wout van Aert looks for first win
The 2025 Giro d'Italia 's sprinter-friendly first week continues with another outing for the fast men on stage five, this time a trim 151km run from Ceglie Messapica to Matera. Unlike Tuesday's pan-flat stage four, won by the surprise package of Casper van Uden, this one has a sting in the tail in the form of the short, steep category four Montescaglioso climb inside the final 30km. It's a leg-sapping ascent that may eliminate some of the pure sprinters and hand the advantage back to the likes of pink jersey Mads Pedersen, who won stages one and three and was fourth yesterday in Lecce, as well as Wout van Aert and Corbin Strong, who have both performed well on the punchier stages so far in this race. There's more steady climbing on the menu after that, with a false flat leading to the finish in the Unesco World Heritage city of Matera. The final 3km include a punishing ramp that hits 10% and the final kilometre is a steady drag uphill too, so while the stage is likely to still come down to a bunch sprints of sorts, it may be pretty heavily reduced. Like stage four's twisting and turning city centre approach into Lecce, there's another fairly technical finish which could lead to a hair-raising finale as both the GC riders and sprinters jostle to keep position and stay safe at high speeds. There are two left-hand corners approaching the flamme rouge including a tricky one at the 1.2km to go mark before a wide 300m-long finishing straight. And like on stage four the daily Red Bull kilometre - with six, four and two bonus seconds on offer for the first three riders over the line - is at the top of a short climb, 100km into proceedings at Bernalda. Expect a similar squabble between the main GC riders for those, if the day's breakaway doesn't get them first. Route map and profile Start time Stage five will start at around 12:35pm BST and should conclude by 4pm. Prediction This could be one for Wout van Aert, who came second on stage one and was in fine form on all terrain during the Spring Classics, only to come away without a win. His teammate Olav Kooij feels a likely candidate to be distanced on the late climbs, meaning Visma-Lease a Bike could be all-in for the Belgian come the finale. But it's the maglia rosa of Mads Pedersen who has reigned supreme on the trickier uphill sprint stages so far, and after coming fourth in stage four behind a trio of pure sprinters, he clearly has the form. Although, stage four did show that a sprint finish is anyone's game, so could this even be one for Tom Pidcock?
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Giro d'Italia stage five preview: Uphill finish could wreak havoc for sprinters as Wout van Aert looks for first win
The 2025 Giro d'Italia 's sprinter-friendly first week continues with another outing for the fast men on stage five, this time a trim 151km run from Ceglie Messapica to Matera. Unlike Tuesday's pan-flat stage four, won by the surprise package of Casper van Uden, this one has a sting in the tail in the form of the short, steep category four Montescaglioso climb inside the final 30km. It's a leg-sapping ascent that may eliminate some of the pure sprinters and hand the advantage back to the likes of pink jersey Mads Pedersen, who won stages one and three and was fourth yesterday in Lecce, as well as Wout van Aert and Corbin Strong, who have both performed well on the punchier stages so far in this race. There's more steady climbing on the menu after that, with a false flat leading to the finish in the Unesco World Heritage city of Matera. The final 3km include a punishing ramp that hits 10% and the final kilometre is a steady drag uphill too, so while the stage is likely to still come down to a bunch sprints of sorts, it may be pretty heavily reduced. Like stage four's twisting and turning city centre approach into Lecce, there's another fairly technical finish which could lead to a hair-raising finale as both the GC riders and sprinters jostle to keep position and stay safe at high speeds. There are two left-hand corners approaching the flamme rouge including a tricky one at the 1.2km to go mark before a wide 300m-long finishing straight. And like on stage four the daily Red Bull kilometre - with six, four and two bonus seconds on offer for the first three riders over the line - is at the top of a short climb, 100km into proceedings at Bernalda. Expect a similar squabble between the main GC riders for those, if the day's breakaway doesn't get them first. Route map and profile Start time Stage five will start at around 12:35pm BST and should conclude by 4pm. Prediction This could be one for Wout van Aert, who came second on stage one and was in fine form on all terrain during the Spring Classics, only to come away without a win. His teammate Olav Kooij feels a likely candidate to be distanced on the late climbs, meaning Visma-Lease a Bike could be all-in for the Belgian come the finale. But it's the maglia rosa of Mads Pedersen who has reigned supreme on the trickier uphill sprint stages so far, and after coming fourth in stage four behind a trio of pure sprinters, he clearly has the form. Although, stage four did show that a sprint finish is anyone's game, so could this even be one for Tom Pidcock?
RNZ News
11-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Cycling: Kiwi Corbin Strong pipped for stage win on Giro d'Italia
Lidl-Trek's Danish rider Mads Pedersen (C) sprints to the finish line to win the 3rd stage of the 108th Giro d'Italia cycling race. New Zealander Corbin Strong of Israel Premier Tech (right) finished second. Photo: AFP New Zealand cyclist Corbin Strong has been pipped for a stage win on the Giro d'Italia. Strong picked up the wheel of Dane Mads Pedersen at the end of the 160km stage and came along beside him, but was unable to get in front. Strong, 25, finished a half a wheel length behind in second. "It was a close sprint. I've always had confidence that I can take it to these guys in the sprint if I have a good run, and today I had a lot of confidence after stage 1," Strong told his Israel Premier Tech team after the stage. The stage contained a number of hill climbs. "I had to fight a lot on the climb and I dropped just before the top. It took a little longer to come back on these roads, but thankfully Jakob was there with me. For sure, it took out a bit of energy to chase back, but when I was chasing back on, I knew I had good legs as I felt really strong." Pedersen's second-stage win resulted in him taking back the overall leader's jersey from Primoz Roglic. "Wow, to have two stage victories already and now back in the pink that's exactly what we wanted today," Pedersen said. The stage was the last of three stages in Albania. Strong was 69th in general classification, just over five minutes behind Pedersen. Greg Henderson was the last New Zealander to win a stage on a Grand Tour, taking out the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana in 2009. After Monday's rest day, Tuesday's stage four will be a flat 189-km ride from Alberobello to Lecce. - Reuters / RNZ
Otago Daily Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Southland's Strong pipped in sprint
Corbin Strong (right, wearing blue) is pipped in a sprint to the finish by Mads Pedersen at the Giro d'Italia Stage 3 race in Italy. Southland's Corbin Strong was pipped by Mads Pedersen in a bid to win stage three of the Giro d'Italia overnight. The Dane's second stage victory of this year's race also saw him take back the overall leader's jersey from Primoz Roglic. Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who won the opening stage, took to the front in the sprint finish and held off Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) by half a wheel, with Venezuela's Orluis Aular (Movistar) finishing third, as he did in stage one. The stage victory gave Pedersen a 10-second bonus, which means he retakes the pink jersey from race favourite Roglic, having begun the day one second behind the Slovenian. "Wow, to have two stage victories already and now back in the pink that's exactly what we wanted today," Pedersen said. The stage, a 160-km ride starting and finishing in Vlore and the last of three stages in Albania, was dominated by an early breakaway which included Saturday's time-trial winner, Briton Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers). Having opened up a gap of over three minutes on the peloton, the six-man group started to splinter as the bunch began to eat into their lead, with the riders all back together for the final 16km to set up the sprint finish. Bahrain Victorious controlled the front of the group in the final kilometres, looking to set Antonio Tiberi up for the win, but in the closing stages, Pedersen's colleagues Mathias Vacek and Giulio Ciccone had the Dane perfectly positioned. Pedersen attacked early with Strong following but nobody was going to deny the new race leader another victory, and after relinquishing the overall lead to Roglic on Saturday (local time), he will now wear the pink jersey when the race reaches Italy. "This was the plan from this morning to put a good pace on the long climb to control it for ourselves and give me a breather," Pedersen said. "Then from the climb on it was controlling as far as we could and it was exactly as we wanted and then Ciccone and Vacek there doing an amazing lead out." After Monday's rest day, Tuesday's stage four will be a flat 189-km ride from Alberobello to Lecce.
The Guardian
11-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Mads Pedersen reclaims Giro d'Italia pink jersey with stage three sprint win
Mads Pedersen reclaimed the leader's pink jersey with victory in the third stage of the Giro d'Italia as the race bade farewell to Albania. The Danish rider repeated his first-stage success by holding off Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) in a sprint finish in Vlorë. Pedersen's Lidl-Trek team controlled the peloton, reeling in an early breakaway that included Britain's stage two winner, Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers). After helping Pedersen successfully negotiate a climb with 40km to go, Matthias Vacek produced a strong lead-out to send the 29-year-old on his way, while Movistar's Orluis Aular matched his third-placed finish from the opening stage. Having gone into the day with a one-second deficit to race leader Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the bonus seconds gained were enough to give Pedersen a nine-second advantage over the Slovenian. 'Wow, to have two stage victories already and now back in the pink – that's exactly what we wanted today,' Pedersen said. 'This was the plan from this morning, to put a good pace on the long climb to control it for ourselves and give me a breather.' 'Then from the climb on, it was controlling as far as we could and it was exactly as we wanted – and then [Giulio] Ciccone and Vacek [were] there doing an amazing lead out,' he added. The race now heads across the Adriatic Sea to Italy, and will resume in Alberobello on Tuesday following a rest day.
