Corbin Strong keen to become Grand Tour stage winner in 2024: "That’s going to be a big goal of mine"

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."

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."