Latest news with #CorbinStrong
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Sports News for 11 August 2025
New Zealand cyclist Corbin Strong held off British Olympic champion Tom Pidcock to win the Arctic Race of Norway. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
New Zealand cyclist Corbin Strong takes Arctic Race of Norway win
New Zealand cyclist Corbin Strong of Israel-Premier Tech. Photo: BRUNO FAHY / AFP New Zealand cyclist Corbin Strong held off British Olympic champion Tom Piddock to win the Arctic Race of Norway. Strong won the opening stage and then held onto the yellow for all four days of the Tour. Just four seconds seperated him and Piddock, the Olympic mountainbiking champion, as they went into the final stage and they were in close contact throughout the ride on the last day. However Strong, a former world champion on the track, showed his sprinting class and managed to grab second place on the stage, with Piddock coming home sixth. That gave the 25-year-old Kiwi an 11 second victory overall. "It was an incredibly stressful day. I knew we were going to be under attack from kilometre zero, but I've exceeded my expectations, especially the first few laps in the rain," Strong said. "The first few laps are even more out of control and harder than I expected. But my team was just incredible today. Those boys put it all on the line for me today. "I thought I could do maybe a top five, maybe a podium on GC, if I had a really good ride. I was quietly confident. Yesterday exceeded my expectations. So to be in the yellow and finish it off with my teammates today is a really nice feeling." Strong also claimed the points and youth honous on the Tour while his Israel Premier Tech team finished third overall. Strong won a stage race in Belgium earlier this year and finished second on a stage of the Giro d'Italia. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Kiwi cyclist Corbin Strong surprises climbers to retain Arctic Tour of Norway lead
Corbin Strong holds a six-second lead into the final stage in Norway. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Kiwi cyclist Corbin Strong has shocked the recognised climbers in the field to retain his lead on the Arctic Race of Norway after three stages. Known for his track exploits, Strong grabbed the lead in a sprint on the opening stage and held it through another sprint stage, despite being caught up in a crash near the finish. He was expected to concede the raceleader's yellow jersey to Olympic mountain-bike champion Tom Pidcock on the hilly 182.4km third stage, but stuck with the Brit until the finish to preserve a six-second lead into the final day. "Happy, but we also wanted to try and get the jersey today," Pidcock admitted. "Corbin did a pretty incredible climb for a sprinter." "Still a big race on tomorrow, but he's going to be tricky. He's got a strong team and he's going very well. "It's going to be difficult, but let's see what we can do." Strong, 25, is a former world points race champion on the track and Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the scratch race. Last month, he showed his impressive road form with victory at Belgium's Tour de Wollonie, where he also won the opening stage on hills and finished with the leaders over the next four days to edge Czech Mathias Vacek by nine seconds overall. His Israel Premier Tech team have two other riders in the Arctic Tour top 10 - American Riley Sheehan in fourth, 31 seconds behind, and Canadian Hugo Houle 37 seconds back in ninth. Stage four is 135.3km, consisting of eight hill circuits through the town of Tromsø and starting 12.45am Monday NZT. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
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?
