ARLENIS SIERRA FIFTH AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Only a few centimeters separated Arlenis Sierra from a historic podium at the World Road Championship in Leuven today: the Cuban champion of the A.R. Monex Liv Women's Pro Cycling Team was in fact the protagonist of an excellent race that saw her cross the finish line in fifth position after fighting shoulder to shoulder with the best cyclists in the world. The race took place on a very nervous course of 157.7 kilometers, without major climbs but with about twenty short walls and continuous turns and changes of direction: after a relatively quiet first part, the speed of the peloton has increased considerably in the last 50 kilometers with Arlenis Sierra who seemed to ride better and better with the passing of time.
In the finale, Arlenis Sierra tried to respond in first person to some attacks that could prove decisive: the star of the A.R. Monex Liv Women's Pro Cycling Team was in fact the only representative of Cuba in the race, and at any time she had to go alone without that fundamental support that instead almost all of her rivals had in an extremely expensive event of physical and mental energy. Sierra then tried to fight in the final sprint, recovering many positions at the last kilometer, but fatigue made itself felt by taking away from the legs that kick that could have given a medal: fifth place is therefore welcomed with a mix of emotions, the satisfaction for a prestigious result and the regret for the missed podium.
«Am I happy? A little yes and a little no - said Arlenis Sierra - because it was an excellent race and at a certain point I hoped to be able to achieve something more, to be able to take a medal. I think the decisive moment was about 6 km from the finish, a very dangerous group went away with Vos and Longo Borghini, they could have gone and so I moved in first person: unfortunately as soon as I caught them, the others stopped, but the effort was intense. Then in the sprint I was very tired, I didn't have the strength to do more, but if there is one regret, it is precisely for that attack».
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