Ashleigh Moolman Pasio

The South African rider was born in Pretoria on December 9, 1985 and almost lost her life in her final year of high school when a horse riding accident left her in an induced coma for 10 days. She did recover and finish school, and found cycling was her purpose.

She turned pro in 2010 with Lotto Ladies Team at the age of 24 and rode with the team for four seasons. Across 2011-2013 she won three road race titles, and two ITT titles, at the African Continental Championships. That final year she scored victories in one-day races, from Boels Rental HIlls Classic to South African road race and ITT championships. She was an impressive third at La Flèche Wallonne Féminine.

She repeated with both South African road titles in 2014 and 2015. By 2015 she was riding for the Bigla Pro programme and began to make huge impressions with hilly one-day races and stage racing, with a GC win at Auensteiner-Radsporttage, second overall at Euskal Emakumeen Bira and fourth overall at Giro d’Italia Donne, plus second at Giro dell’Emilia, fourth at Strade Bianche Donne and GP de Plouay-Bretagne.

Continuing at Bigla for three more seasons, she won La Classique Morbihan and GP de Plumelec-Morbihan before a second overall at the 2018 Giro. From there, she then landed a contract with top-tier team CCC-Liv in 2019, and was with the team in 2020 when they moved to WorldTour status. At CCC-Liv, she won several more one-day races and climbed her way to third overall at Amgen Tour of California Womens Race and fourth overall at the Giro.

2021 and 2022 took her to SD Worx, where she worked to support role riders like Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering. She had moments to shine, the first year with the team winning the queen stage atop Monte Matajur and going second overall at the Giro d’Italia Donne and second overall at Ladies Tour of Norway. In 2022 she scored a series of top 10s at six consecutive Spring Classics, including third at Strade Bianche Donne. Then she won the queen stage atop the Thyon 2000 and the overall title at Tour de Romandie to finish. 

In early 2022, Moolman-Pasio announced she would retire from cycling, but reversed the decision by the end of the year when she decided to recharge her career at AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep. She vaulted to team leadership at that Continental team in 2023, a year before they moved to the WorldTour, winning Durango - Durango Emakumeen Saria and going second overall at Tour Féminin Pyrénées. At the Tour de France Femmes, she had five top 10s across eight stages and finished sixth overall.

Key Results

2023

🥇 Durango - Durango Emakumeen Saria

🥇 One stage and points classification Tour Féminin Pyrénées

🥈 One stage and GC Tour Féminin Pyrénées

🥈 Points classification at Touro de France Femmes

🥉 GC at Vuelta Burgos Feminas

2022

🥇 One stage and GC at Tour de Romandie Féminin

🥉 Strade Bianche Donne

2021

🥇 One stage at Giro d’Italia Donne

🥈 Two stages, mountains classification and GC at Giro d’Italia Donne

🥈 One stage amd GC at Ladies Tour of Norway

2020

🥇 South African National Championships road race and ITT

2019

🥇 South African National Championships road race

🥇 Emakumeen Nafarroako Klasikoa

🥉 One stage and GC at Amgen Tour of California Womens Race

🥉 Two stages at Giro d’Italia Donne

Fourth on GC at Giro d’Italia Donne

2018

🥇 La Classique Morbihan

🥈 Two stages and GC at Giro d’Italia Donne

🥈 La Flèche Wallonne Féminine

🥈 Two stages and GC at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana

🥉 La Course by Le Tour de France

🥉 One stage and mountains classification at Giro d’Italia Donne

2017

🥇 Emakumeen Bira
🥇 La Classique Morbihan
🥇 Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan Dames
🥇Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge 

🥇South African Championships ITT