Blazing saddle: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio on breaking new ground in cycling
South African Moolman-Pasio has been a pioneer of female road cycling. As the inaugural UCI eSports world champion enters the twilight of her career, she hopes to continue to inspire the next generation of female riders from Africa.
Cycling Road
Growing up, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio cherished dreams of reaching the Olympic Games as an equestrian, but instead, found her calling on a bicycle saddle where she blazed a trail for female riders in Africa and beyond.
The South African icon has reached the pinnacle of her sport, competing in some of the biggest stage races on the global calendar, including the inaugural Tour de France Femmes, Giro d'Italia Femminile, and the Tour de Romandie Feminin. Her victory in the latter saw her become the first African to win a stage race on the UCI Women's World Tour.
As the inaugural UCI eSports World Champion enters the twilight of her career, she hopes to continue to inspire the next generation of African women riders.
Moolman-Pasio initially planned to bring the curtain down on her illustrious career at the end of 2022, but career-defining results persuaded her to delay her retirement with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games a tempting swansong.
The 37-year-old could compete at a fourth Games where she would be looking to upgrade two top-10 finishes to a place on the podium.
"It's that kind of feeling of like that 10,000 hours theory. Maybe one more Olympic Games, and that would be the one," Pasio told Olympics.com.
"I'm definitely not opposed to another year. If I'm totally honest, I'm more or less thinking it would make sense. I'm just taking it year by year, but Paris is next year. Why not?"
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio: Queen of African cycling
Moolman-Pasio's stellar results in recent years weighed heavy on her heart and mind as she plotted the best path away from the road into virtual cycling and ultimately off the bike.
Even if she retires now, she can do so safe in the knowledge that she has forged her own path in the sport.
Since she started her professional career in 2010, Moolman-Pasio has emerged as the undisputed queen of African female cycling, boasting four continental road race crowns, a Commonwealth Games bronze and six national titles.
Before discovering her cycling talents at the University of Stellenbosch, where she studied chemical engineering, Moolman-Pasio had a near-fatal horse riding accident.
She suffered a severe head injury in the fall and was placed in a medically induced coma for 10 days. The prognosis was not good, with the doctors saying the A-student was unlikely to finish school.
"It really was a miracle because I made a full recovery, and I went on to complete my schooling career with seven distinctions," Moolman-Pasio said
"So exactly the opposite of what the doctors thought, and I suppose it was in this whole experience that I really felt like I had been saved. You know, I felt like I was still here for a reason. And I really felt this deep sense of God. The purpose that there's something else meant for me in my life. And it took me a bit of time to figure that out."
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio: Late bloomer
By her own admission, Moolman-Pasio is a late bloomer in the sport, receiving her first national call-up at 23 for the 2010 UCI Road World Championships in Australia.
She missed that event after breaking her collarbone in a collision with a car, but made her World Championship debut the following year before qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games where she finished in a creditable 16th place.
"I can still remember so clearly, you know, being on the start line of the London Olympic Games and how totally overwhelming it was and then riding and almost every kilometre of the course was lined with spectators shouting, screaming," Moolman-Pasio said.
"And I remember how it was just so overwhelming that, in the end, I missed the big move of the day. I just missed the move."
Two years later, she would finally get her hands on some silverware, winning bronze at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and raising her prospects ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Moolman-Pasio received a further shot in the arm, becoming the first South African to finish in the top 10 on the UCI rankings in 2015.
"The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was like a mini Olympic Games. It was a special achievement for me, and my best results in the South African colours on a sort of international stage," Moolman-Pasio remembers fondly.
"Then, arriving in Rio, it was the perfect course for me. I was one of the favourites for a medal, but again I made a mistake taking way too much responsibility on my shoulders."
Mechanical problems ultimately hobbled her chances of reaching the podium, and the Pretoria native had to be content with 10th place in the road race and 12th in the individual time trial.
At her third Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 (in 2021), she made a point of enjoying the experience.
While she walked away feeling positive about her experience, Moolman-Pasio felt she again let a potential road race medal slip through her fingers as she took 13th place. As a consolation prize, she finished eighth in the time trial.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio: Virtual cycling pioneer
Perhaps the pinnacle of Moolman-Pasio's career took place off the road and at the end of one of the most traumatic years in world history. Like so many other riders, she was forced online and embraced the world of eSports during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although Moolman-Pasio was slow to adopt virtual cycling, eSports provided her with an opportunity to extend her career on the bike albeit in a different format. And she claimed the women's title at the inaugural UCI Cycling eSports World Championships in December 2020.
"I'd say the eSports World Champs is probably the biggest highlight of my career, and I suppose it's because of that sort of deeper meaning or purpose," she said.
"It had been such a challenging year for everyone worldwide. I was really proud of how I had turned adversity into opportunity because many people thought I was crazy when I was up on my indoor trainer on Zwift hour after hour training and racing. There were a lot of critics and pros out there saying I am a real cyclist, not a virtual cyclist."
Still, Moolman-Pasio beat some of the best racers in the world, including Dutch stars, 2020 world road race champion Anna van der Breggen and double Olympic medallist Annemiek van Vleuten, on the 50km route through Watopia.
She has since become an advocate for eSports, touting its potential for making the world of cycling smaller by introducing women from hard-to-reach places to competitive racing.
"One of the big reasons why I embraced virtual cycling and racing on the eSports is because it is very hard for people from other parts of the world outside of Europe to make it as a pro because there are so many barriers they have to overcome to get to," she said.
"And so I think as a South African, it's another reason why I am proud of that result and an advocate for eSports because it creates more opportunity for other South Africans."
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio: Paying it forward
Moolman-Pasio launched an indoor cycling community on Zwift called Rocacorba Collective to create a safe space for women from all over the world to get into the sport. In addition, she is raising funds for a girls-on-bikes initiative in Khayelitsha, the largest township in Cape Town.
"There are plenty of other initiatives all around South Africa to get underprivileged boys on bikes, but there aren't so many for girls," Moolman-Pasio said.
"This is a girls-only project that I'm doing with Khaltsha Cycles, a bike shop out of a shipping container in Khayelitsha. We are trying to raise funds to buy entry-level bikes for these girls to ride the Cape Town Cycle Tour. The longer-term goal is to find partners or to raise the funding to create an indoor cycling and learning centre in shipping containers in Khayelitsha where they will have a safe space to ride on the trainers."
Taking full advantage of her current form on the road, Moolman-Pasio is looking to break new ground in some of the biggest events on the racing calendar, including the Tour de France Femmes and August's World Championships in Glasgow.
"I definitely have unfinished business at the Tour de France Femmes. And yeah, the goal is to go for the yellow jersey and then shortly after that is the World Championships in Glasgow," she said.
"It will be quite a similar course to the Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2014), so I have good memories from that course. Maybe I can pull something off. Maybe it can be a special day for me this time at the World Champs."