Cuban Arlenis Sierra is a star on the rise and is a serious contender for this year’s Tour Down Under crown
Arlenis Sierra has gone from a surprise package to a Santos Tour Down Under contender. Gordon Knight chats with the rising star.
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Arlenis Sierra is the first of her generation, a pioneering Cuban professional cyclist travelling the world and winning at the highest level.
This includes last year’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong, where she found herself alone against the might of Australia’s Mitchelton-Scott team – and won.
Baseball-mad Cuba isn’t a cycling nation and it wasn’t until 2016 that the socialist republic allowed its riders to join professional teams – although the process remains a bureaucratic nightmare.
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Sierra is a pioneer, forging a new path for Cuban riders, a journey that brought her to Adelaide in 2019.
“I never expected to travel to Australia one day, but I have wonderful memories and I think it’s the most beautiful country I’ve ever visited,” she says from her Havana home, reflecting on her first Santos Tour Down Under appearance last year, where she was third in stage 1 and sixth on the street circuit stage 4.
“When we were there in January it was hot, but I really enjoyed the weather and the atmosphere – and the nature was so nice.
“It was really amazing to see a lot of different animals that I didn’t know or that I only saw in books before.”
Santos Women’s Tour Down Under director Kimberley Conte says Sierra is a contender for the TDU title this year.
Conte, following the race in the director’s car, was one of the first to see how smart Sierra was on a bike.
“I love the way she rides, she’s so savvy,” Conte says.
“When she won the Cadel race, some of the riders were like ‘I don’t know who that girl from Astana was. Who was it?’.
“But we picked her when she was here at the Tour Down Under. She was so on fire. It’s really great to have Arlenis return.”
Sierra’s first big break came in 2016 when she caught the attention of Astana Women’s Team, based in Kazakhstan, a dominant force on the pro circuit.
“At Astana, I found really special people,” says Sierra. “In 2016, they showed a big interest in signing me and they managed to go past all the problems.
“At the beginning, I was a bit scared of trying this adventure in Europe. Then, in 2017, I really discovered how special this team is.
“It was not easy for me, far from home in a completely different country, but the staff understood how I really am and all my problems.
“They helped me like you do with a member of your family. For me, this is the most important thing and it goes beyond the results and the money.”
The road to becoming a cyclist started early for the Astana rider. Her father and sister played tennis and wanted 12-year-old Sierra to be more active.
So, she tried a few sports before finding cycling, despite the fact that no one in her family had been involved in the sport. Sierra describes her first few cycle rides as “a sort of imposition”. “But then I started loving cycling,” she said.
Sierra grew up in Manzanillo, on Cuba’s south coast. It’s about as far from Havana as a Cuban town can be, but her cycling ability attracted the attention of a sports school in the capital – so she made the 750km journey north to train with other protégés and race against the best in the nation.
“National races in Cuba can be very hard, harder than you might expect,” the five-time national champion explains.
“If you manage to reach the national team it’s a breakthrough in your career, so everybody wants to shine in every race and to try and convince the national coaches.”
Sierra has now been joined at Astana by other Cubans, helping her to feel a little more at home on the road.
“They’re not only teammates but real friends,” she says.
When, in 2016, Sierra first turned up at a European bike race – the Tour de Bretagne Feminin, in northwest France – few had heard of her.
After she won Stage 1, Stage 3, the sprint jersey and young rider jersey, the peloton took note.
“When I started winning in Europe I realised that nothing is impossible for the athletes from Latin America,” Sierra says.
“If you have passion and ambition, you can achieve great results because we’re all human beings.”
In one of her first major rides with Astana, she took the sprinter’s jersey and young rider jersey at the Tour of California, and followed that with the sprint jersey win at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana.
But she’s not just speedy. A gutsy second place in the 2017 Trofeo Alfredo Binda from a decimated field made it clear she was an all-rounder – a sprinter who can time trial and climb well. The type of rider who could be a Tour Down Under winner.
So what kind of cyclist does she consider herself to be?
“This is a good question and every time I’m in trouble giving an answer,” she says. “I have a little bit of everything. I’m not a pure specialist in something.”
Years of racing at the highest level on the velodrome – including gold at the Pan American Championships in the scratch race – have taught superlative cornering skills. And she can rocket down a hill.
“Racing in track cycling is quite helpful for the bike handling, but I think that, at least for me, an ability on the descents is also a sort of gift of God or nature,” Sierra says.
“I always find myself quite comfortable going downhill. I’m not scared and I know what risks I can take.”
So Sierra, who has just turned 27, is the complete package. She mentions having raced a 260km event against the men as a training event – and she’s coming to the Tour Down Under as team leader with the aim of racing to beat the fastest women in the world.
“For sure, I will fight to be there with the best. I know that there will be a lot of strong riders, much more than last edition,” she says.
“But we will try have a good results in the general classification, or at least in a couple of stages. I know that will hard but nothing is impossible.”
“I really loved Australia on my first trip. I’m very happy I can come back.”
The four-day Women’s Tour Down Under starts at 10am January 16 with the 116km Ziptrak stage 1 from Hahndorf to Macclesfield.
Originally published as Cuban Arlenis Sierra is a star on the rise and is a serious contender for this year’s Tour Down Under crown