Cuban Sierra climbs to the podium at the start of the Australian cycle tour

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 10 (ACN) Cuban Arlenis Sierra, captain of the Astana Women's Team professional cycling club, was the third to reach the finish line today on the first leg of the Santos Women's Tour in Australia, a powerful country in world cycling.

The Cuban scored eight points for the UCI (International Cycling Union) and six points for its team.
In the 112.9 km stretch between the towns of Hahndorf and Birdwood, the Italian Letizia Paternoster, of the Trek-Segafredo Women team (United States) dominated.
Australian Sarah Roy, from the local Mitchelton-Scott team, finished second.
Jeidy Pradera, a 20-year-old Cuban who also competes for Astana Women's Team, finished 79th.
Three runners could not finish the route, where the highest heights among the 12 elevations were 469 meters in two hills called Lucky Hit Climb.
The next stages will be run on the 11th between Nuriootpa and Angaston (116.7 km), on the 12th from Nairne to Stirling (104.5 km) and on the 13th on a 42.5 km circuit in Adelaide, all in the south of the mainland island.
Each of the 15 competing teams has six riders.
In addition to the Kazakh-Italian squadron where the Cubans are active, there are five teams from Australia, three from the United States and two from Italy, while Belgium, Holland, Mexico and New Zealand each participate with one team.
Procyclingstats, a digital portal specialized in international cycling statistics, today presents Arlenis Sierra as the third most popular cyclist in the world and the ninth in the list that includes both sexes, among internationally famous names such as Alejandro Valverde and Sarah Roy.