Corbin Strong came so close to creating kiwi history when he was pipped in a photo-finish for victory in Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia into Vlore, Albania today.

Strong got on the wheel of stage 1 winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) as the bunch wound-up for the sprint finish, and looked to have edged ahead but the photo-finish gave the honours to Pedersen.

“It was a close sprint. I’ve always had confidence that I can take it to these guys in the sprint if I have a good run, and today I had a lot of confidence after stage 1,” said Strong.

“I had to fight a lot on the climb and I dropped just before the top. It took a little longer to come back on these roads, but thankfully Jakob (Fuglsang) was there with me. For sure, it took out a bit of energy to chase back, but when I was chasing back on, I knew I had good legs as I felt really strong.”

A sprint finish was doubtful on a stage with 3km of elevation, including the 10km climb of Qafa e Llogarasë with a 7.5 percent gradient.

Having re-caught the lead bunch, the kiwi did well to get on Pedersen’s wheel as the pair had a head-to-head sprint, with even the television commentary calling Strong home but he had to settle for second.

“The season hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to, so I was hoping I was going to bounce back with a big win, but yeah, close but no cigar. We’ve got a really nice team here, and I think we can take confidence from today and hope we can achieve some stage wins later on,” Strong said.

Team sports director, Sam Bewley, praised the teamwork and the impressive finish from Strong.

“It was important to execute in a few different areas and today the guys were great across the board. Corbin showed some real fight today to produce a brilliant second place. It’s always a bummer to be so close to a win but the guys should also be proud of their execution and the result.”