Champion of Giro d'Italia Donne thanks Cuban Sierra after her triumph

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 11 (ACN) Dutch Olympic and world champion Annemiek van Vleuten, perennial leader of the world road cycling rankings, emotionally thanked her teammate, Cuban Arlenis Sierra, after winning the Giro d'Italia Donne.

After finishing the Giro on Sunday, Van Vleuten gathered riders and support staff of the Spanish Movistar Team and handed out distinctive pink jerseys of the overall individual leadership.

For the Cuban she left the last one, where she wrote: "Thank you Arlenis, you surprise me every time, during and after the races. So much talent!!!".

I miss you, Arlenis, said the 39-year-old Dutchwoman in a message to the Cuban, who suffered a fall in the sixth stage of the competition, but still finished 38 seconds behind the winner in the segment, Marianne Vos, multiple Dutch Olympic and world champion in track, road and cyclo-cross.

Arlenis, 29 years old, was the second best of the team in the race in Italy, of 1,004 kilometers and 10 days and one of the three most important of the universal circuit.

The next event of the Movistar women's team will be another mythical competition, the Tour de France, which will start at the base of the Eiffel Tower on July 24 and finish on July 31, with the presence of the Cuban, a reference of America at the highest level.