Strong starts year with victory
CYCLING
SOUTHLAND rider Corbin Strong underlined his credentials with victory in the New Zealand Cycle Classic. The final stage in the Wellington CBD on Sunday was won by Strong’s teammate Campbell Stewart.
Strong was second and finished ahead of teammate Finn FisherBlack, who was leading the tour going into the final stage.
Strong won overall by eight seconds from FisherBlack.
A technical error in the results the day before initially gave Strong the yellow jersey before it was given to FisherBlack following a result audit.
Strong, who won the points race at the world championships last year, was faster in the final stage and was able to start the year with victory.
“It’s a pretty surreal feeling.’’ For five hours on Saturday he thought he was going to be in yellow going into the final day’s racing.
“It was pretty tough hearing that my teammate, who is a really good mate, was actually in yellow and we were in a difficult situation where the last stage was a race pretty much tailormade for me and the gap was tight.
‘‘But we had to go and race it … we weren’t racing against each other. We were racing to keep the jersey in the team.’’
Strong and his teammates further celebrated as they won the teams classification on the fiveday tour.