Wanganui cyclist Hayley Giddens was stoked to claim her first podium spot during a major international race as her South American sojourn had a great start during the Vuelta a Guatemala at the weekend.
As a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) race, Giddens was team captain for her ISCorp Intelligentsia crewduring the first stage of the La XIII Vuelta Femenina Internacional a Guatemala, winding up in third place.
It was a tough slog at altitude Giddens said the lowest point was 2300m above sea level while the highest was 2800m at the top of a 10km climb.
"The altitude put the Guatemalans at an advantage over us overseas riders and made breathing slightly more difficult than usual.
"I was third in a close sprint finish and had been very aggressive during the race.
"As the team captain, it was my job to dictate race tactics to the team and in the lead-outs for the mid-race sprints and finish sprints, I would alternate between English and Spanish for the American and Latina riders on our team."
Giddens said the hardest of the three stages was the second, which consisted of 11 laps of a tough circuit with a hill to be ascended at the start of each lap, before a 10km climb to the finish.
"The stage was the equivalent of climbing Durie Hill over 20 times but with less oxygen than at sea level."
Giddens said her American-based professional team had been the favourites for one of them to claim the sprinters jersey and they lived up to that.
A teammate got the jersey and her team finished third overall on the final stage of the event - which is where the 2014 Panamerican Road Race Championships are being held.
Giddens used her New Zealand EMC bike for the first time in Latin America and was delighted with how it performed.
Her next race will be the La Vuelta Femenina a Colombia, in the city of Boyaca in three weeks' time.
