The star of Cuban cycling, Arlenis Sierra, continues pedaling in the lead in the strong Tour de L'Ardeche (France)

Havana, September 12 (RHC) -- The star of Cuban cycling, Arlenis Sierra, continues pedaling in the lead in the strong Tour de L'Ardeche (France). In the fifth stage, raced on Sunday over 113.5 km, she finished in 12th place and climbed to seventh place in the overall individual classification.

Winner of the first stage and one of the most consistent riders in the Tour, the A.R.Monex club captain covered the hilly St-Jean-Royans section on Sunday in 3h34.32, 3.33 minutes behind the winner, Italian Marta Bastianelli (Ljubljana).

Leah Thomas, Movistar's American rider, crossed the finish line in fifth place and kept the leader's pink jersey in the overall individual classification, 9 seconds ahead of Spain's Ane Santesteban and Margarita García.

Arlenis improved from eighth to seventh place, now 2.02 minutes from the top.

With her victory on Sunday, Bastianelli moved to the lead along with the leader Thomas in the points classification, both with 31 points, one point ahead of the Cuban, who dominated that section since the first stage, when she took the win.

The Tour de L'Ardeche - purely for climbers - will be the last test for Cuban Arlenis Sierra before competing in the road race of the world championship, scheduled for Flanders (Belgium) on September 25.

Before competing in LÁrdeche, the stellar Cuban cyclist achieved a brilliant victory in the Giro della Toscana (Italy), repeating her 2019 victory.