Corbin Strong caps off flawless IPT display to win Tour de Wallonie stage 2
File this one as flawless: Corbin Strong sprinted to win stage two of the Tour de Wallonie on Tuesday and moved into the race lead after an impeccable performance by the Kiwi rider and his Israel – Premier Tech teammates.
Strong made light of a challenging uphill finish into the town of Ouffet after being led out by Simon Clarke.
But this performance was about more than just the final 500 meters. Newly-crowned Israeli road race champion Oded Kogut, Michael Schwarzmann, and Riley Pickrell did a great job keeping the day’s breakaway in check, before Strong and Clarke helped split the peloton on the category two Côte de Géromont with 12 kilometers remaining.
Although an eight-rider group containing the duo was short-lived, IPT was not going to be denied its 21st victory of an unforgettable 2024 season to date. Home rider Dylan Teuns – the race’s 2017 champion – and Nick Schultz set a blistering pace on the approach to the line, ensuring that nobody could launch a speculative attack. After Schultz’s job for the day was done with a kilometer to go, Teuns and then Clarke ensured Strong had the best approach to the finish line.
“I’ve been thinking about this week here for a couple of months now,” says Strong. “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. 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 says he will do all he can to keep hold of the leader’s orange jersey.
He adds: “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.”
