Corbin Strong keen to become Grand Tour stage winner in 2024: "That’s going to be a big goal of mine"
Cycling
For the first time in his career, Corbin Strong embarked on a three-week stage race earlier this year at the Tour de France. Although he took two top-10 finishes, the New Zealander will look for more in 2024.
“It was surreal, it was a race I grew up watching with my brother and my dad so it was pretty cool to be there experiencing the crowds and the atmosphere,” Strong told GCN after ending his 2023 season with a 12th-placed finish at the Veneto Classic. “It was exciting to be at a Grand Tour, especially the Tour de France. I think my goal was to not let the experience overwhelm me, not get too intimidated by it and try to race for the win."
Read also
Just 23 years old, Strong has already racked up some impressive results, including stage wins at the Tour of Britain and the Tour of Luxembourg. Competing day-in-day-out for three weeks against the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and the rest of the elite sprinters that take on the Tour de France is a totally different challenge.
"It was pretty intimidating being at the Tour against the names of the sprinters that were there but I think I learnt a lot from it,” Strong assesses. "Everyone goes there in their best shape and I could see that in the sprints. I hadn’t lined up in many sprints with Israel-Premier Tech, so lining up in the sprints at the Tour was completely different to any other sprint that I’d done in the past. I want to do more of it.”
Whilst nothing is confirmed as of yet, Strong is hopeful of taking part in another Grand Tour in 2024 with the ultimate goal of securing a stage win. “I think the next Grand Tour I do, I’ll have a lot more confidence in my climbing. Some days I was more stressed than I needed to be because if I’m fit and healthy I do climb pretty well," he concludes. "I really want to go to a Grand Tour and try and win next year that’s going to be a big goal of mine."
"I haven’t talked about my race programme with the team for next year but I think I’d love to either do the Giro or the Tour. The Giro course came out and it looks really nice for me. I’d be open to doing both of them, so I’ll see what the team thinks."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 3visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment