Arlenis Sierra from Guadalajara to Lima on golden route

August 11, 2019

Arlenis covered the 80 kilometers and 500 meters of the circuit in the Costa Verde area in 2:19.49 hours and is the only one to win the route for the second time in history.

Eight years ago, when Cuban Arlenis Sierra crossed the finish line first in the cycling route, she became one of the surprise news stories. Today she repeated her gold finish at the current Pan American Games, but the feeling is different.

"Guadalajara and this are two very different things, my objective there was not to win but the breakaway happened… Now this is different, the spotlight was on us, so these are two different victories. That one was in a breakaway, this one in a sprint, and that makes me very happy," said the now-mature cyclist, leader of the Astana team, one of the most well-known clubs in the world.

Arlenis covered the 80 kilometers and 500 meters of the circuit in the Costa Verde area in 2:19.49 hours and was followed to occupy the remaining podium positions by the young Trinidadian Teniel Campell and Mexican Lizbeth Salazar, both with identical times of 2:19.50.

In general, it was a very tactical race, with the peloton compact almost the entire time and ridden at an average pace of 33-34 kilometers per hour each lap of the circuit, although the fastest turned out to be the second lap which was ridden at 27.33.

Cuba worked its team with Yumari González (2:19.52) and Iranida García (2:19.53), finishing ninth and twelfth respectively, concentrated on their work to contribute to the Cuban victory.

"I thank my teammates very much, yesterday we outlined the tactics and that's what we did. Iraida fought until the end trying to keep the peloton compact, it was a hill very far from the finish line and that made it difficult if a breakaway came, so we had to keep it compact for the final sprint," said the 26-year-old from Manzanillo in that regard.

But it's not just from cycling that she has matured. Arlenis is much more measured and confident in her life, and she takes her profession with the seriousness it deserves, which is why she assures now that she is sad because she expected better results and not the bronze that she secured on the track a few days ago with the omnium.

"I'm a little sad with the results I had, things didn't go well for me on the track, in the time trial I had problems with the bike… there were so many things, but I fought and didn't let myself fall because cycling and sports in general are like that, today things can go badly and then well," she confesses.

The other medal for Cuban cycling in this event was won by veteran Lisandra with her silver in the keirin.

AN ASIDE WITH LEONEL ÁLVAREZ

Leonel Álvarez, the very experienced coach behind these results, was very happy, not only for the gold, as he considered it came to "ease" the thorn stuck since they fell off the podium in the time trial and accepted a quick conversation while his star student posed for the enthusiastic local fans.

Does this improve the feeling after not making the podium in the time trial?

We had to make up for that and we planned this race as a team effort so it would turn out perfectly, and we must highlight the work of Iraida and Yumari, who was at Arlenis' wheel the whole time. That was her position to prevent that possibility for the other athletes.

What would you highlight about Arlenis as a cyclist and as a person?

She has all the qualities for cycling and as a person… she is an athlete very dedicated to her training, very persistent in pursuit of her results… and the same as a person.