Arlenis Sierra

Havana, July 14 (RHC) - Cuban Arlenis Sierra, of the Movistar team, described the Giro d'Italia Women's 2024 as good preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after the end of the eighth and final stage on Sunday.

According to statements to the digital site JIT, for Arlenis this has been one of the hardest tours run. She also highlighted how beneficial it is for the Olympic Games.

The 31-year-old finished fourth in the points standings with 55, behind Belgian world title holder Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), who accumulated 154 points, Italian overall champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) with 68 points and Australian Niamh Fischer-Black (SD Worx-Protime), who scored 59 points.

Movistar won a stage victory through German rider Liane Lippert and the consistency of the best climber of the blue team, Dutch rider Mareille Meijering, who finished in eleventh place overall, after finishing three times in the top ten.

The closing day of the Giro saw the victory of Kimberley Le Court Pienaar (Ag Insurance), who gave her African nation of Mauritius the first success in the history of this important elite women's race.

But the battle was centered between Borghini and Kopecky, who could not yield to the home rider. She was 21 seconds behind the experienced rider who gave Italy a triumph they had not won for 16 years, for which she kept the pink jersey since she won the first stage.

Knowing the speed of the Belgian uphill, the Italian went with the three who were finally placed on the podium and with a demonic sprint uphill that surprised her rivals, she secured the fourth place this Sunday and the sufficient difference with the Belgian. The latter climbed in 19th place, with no hope of catching up with the rider who was able to defend her place of privilege for more than 800 kilometers.