Arlenis Sierra wins Navarra Women's Elite Classics

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Cuban national champion Arlenis Sierra of A.R Monex Women's Pro Cycling Team took the win in the second day of attritional racing in Navarra. Sierra outsprinted Ruth Winder of Trek-Segrafredo, who took second after struggling to get around late-race attacker Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar). 

Winder and Sierra caught Van Vleuten on the run-in to the finish line.

Sierra's win comes just two months after a collision with a vehicle while training on  in Tarzo, Italy, in March. It was also the first win for A.R Monex Women's Pro Cycling Team since they took over Astana’s license and the first for Sierra since February 2020. 

The torrential conditions of Thursday’s race did not make a return in Navarra, but the attritional tactics certainly did. The race was once again characterised by a whittling down of the bunch as attack after attack chipped away at the group. 

The first three short, steep rises of the day caused the peloton to thin somewhat but it was on the longer, Tirapu climb, with just over 50km to go, that caused a smaller, select bunch to form. 

Attack after attack came from the likes of Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig  (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SD Worx), as well as van Vleuten, who was active throughout in an attempt to match her 2020 win. 

Soraya Paladin of Liv Racing was the first to force a significant gap, attacking to go solo and eventually stretching her lead to around 20 seconds. Canyon-SRAM, who seemed to spend the entire race on the back foot, tried to bridge to Paladin with Ella Harris putting in an attack but the young Kiwi was quickly closed down by Katrin Hammes of Ceratizit-WNT. 

It was former world champion, Marta Bastianelli of Ale BTC Ljubljana joined by Rachel Langdon of Instafund La Prima, who eventually bridged up to Palladin with 28km to go, and the trio soon had a 25-second gap. 

Once again it was Canyon-SRAM chasing with Omer Shapira on the front of the peloton and the three were soon caught. Canyon missed out on yet another move as Grace Brown of Team BikeExchange was next to go solo. 

With 18.6km to go, Uttrup Ludwig and Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx) bridged to Brown but the peloton, wise to Brown’s knack of time trialling to the win, eventually closed down the gap with 12km to as van Vleuten’s Movistar team moved to the front.

Uttrup Ludwig, Fisher-Black, and Brown were caught on a steep rise which made for the perfect launchpad for van Vleuten’s next attack. The defending champion took Moolman Pasio and Longo Borghini with her on the steep, 20 per cent gradient and the three were then joined by Marta Cavalli of FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope. 

Van Vleuten set a high tempo over the top of the climb, encouraging the others to work to pull out a bigger lead as BikeExchange, Canyon-SRAM and Ale BTC Ljubljana took turns to try and pull the dangerous move back.

On the final, steep rise of the race Fisher-Black put in a huge effort to bridge to the group containing her teammate just as Moolman Pasio was also putting in a huge effort on the front which momentarily distanced van Vleuten. 

The front group quickly rejoined over the climb and with Fisher-Black in the mix the move appeared to be the definitive break of the day. So much so that Lucinda Brand of Trek-Segafredo decided to bridge to the group with Marta Cavalli, who had been distanced, on her wheel. 

With 6km to go the group looked set to go to the line together but behind it was Elise Chabbey of Canyon-SRAM, who has come to be defined as a powerhouse domestique this season, pulling on the front to bring them back.

Before the group was finally reeled in, Longo Borghini put in another dig to try and get clear and this time the Italian national champion was joined by Spanish champion, Mavi Garcia of Ale BTC Ljubljana. The pair did not last long in front, however, as yet again Swiss national champion Chabbey single-handedly brought the duo back with 1.2km to go. 

Canyon-SRAM’s efforts to keep the group together for sprinter Hannah Barnes looked to have failed as van Vleuten attacked again to get clear with just 1km to go. It appeared to be a textbook move from the European Champion until sprinters Winder and Sierra joined her and sat on her wheel until the finishing straight.

As the trio approached the line, Winder found herself boxed in by van Vleuten and unable to launch her sprint fully, leaving Sierra to win by a clear margin ahead of the American national champion with van Vleuten taking third.