Arlenis Sierra Cañadilla, from Granma, riding for the Spanish Movistar Team, finished sixth today in the second stage of the 37th Giro d’Italia Femminile, a 156-kilometer route between Roncade and Caorle.
Sierra Cañadilla delivered an excellent performance, finishing with the same time as the winner, local rider Elisa Balsamo (Lidl – Trek), who stopped the clock at 3:57:49. She relegated Ireland’s Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) and Italy’s Chiara Consonni (CANYON//SRAM) to second and third place, respectively.
“Arlenis, among the best in the sprint in Caorle after a very fast finish at the 🇮🇹 #GirodItaliaWomen,” Movistar Team posted on X (@Movistar_Team). The club highlighted the “great effort of the whole team, protecting Marlen all the way to the finish line.”
“I think it was a bit chaotic; I’d forgotten what the final sprints were like. After we had to approach the climb to position Reusser (Marlen) at the front, I was very worn out,” Sierra said, referring to the course.
Elisa Balsamo (7:15:51 hrs | 70 pts), Lara Gillespie (+0:08 | 50), and Chiara Consonni (+0:12 | 36) lead the general classification and points classification, in that order. “Our main objective is to take good care of Reusser, and we regret that Cat (Ferguson) dropped out, because he was crucial in these final sprints,” Arlenis said.
With her performance this Sunday, the rider from Manzanillo moved up to eighth place in the general classification (+0:20) and twelfth in the points classification (7); she also earned 45 points for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ranking.
The day before, the Cuban finished 16th in the first stage, a 139 km race between Cesenatico and Ravenna.
Arlenis’s best performance in the Giro d’Italia came in 2014, when she finished third in the third stage, a 108 km race between Frontone and Foligno, behind Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx – Protime) and Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ).
The third stage will take place this Monday between Bibione and Buja (156 km).