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38 / PEOPLE / Cycling<br />
PEOPLE / 39<br />
In The<br />
Saddle<br />
A BREAKAWAY GROUP of African<br />
cyclists are attempting to emulate the<br />
achievements of Kenyan-born, four-time<br />
Tour de France champion Chris Froome.<br />
text Graham Willgoss<br />
Personal best: 2nd overall, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Giro Rosa<br />
Ashleigh<br />
Moolman-<br />
Pasio<br />
Born<br />
9 December, 1985<br />
Hometown<br />
Pretoria, South Africa<br />
Team<br />
Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling<br />
Greatest achievements<br />
1st, African Continental Championships<br />
– Road Race (2011, 2012, 2013 and<br />
2015); 3rd, La Course (<strong>2018</strong>); 1st<br />
Mountains Classification, Setmana<br />
Ciclista Valenciana (<strong>2018</strong>); 3rd,<br />
Commonwealth Games – Road Race<br />
(2014); 3rd, World Championships – Team<br />
Time Trial (2016)<br />
“I WANT THE world to wake up to see that Africa<br />
already has someone capable of ‘podiuming’ at a Grand<br />
Tour,” said Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (32) before July’s<br />
Giro Rosa. A bold statement; but the South African<br />
made history by doing exactly that when she finished<br />
second overall at the Giro Rosa: the only Grand Tour<br />
in women’s cycling.<br />
Moolman-Pasio, who rides for the Cervélo–Bigla<br />
Pro Cycling team, backed that up just two days later<br />
with a thrilling third-place finish at La Course, the<br />
prestigious one-day race staged by Tour de France<br />
owners, ASO. Standing on the podium as an African<br />
woman, she explains, is no small thing because cycling<br />
is still in its nascent phase in Africa. “As an African or<br />
South African, you might have the physical potential,<br />
ability or talent to become a really great cyclist, but<br />
you’re not going to become one of the world’s best by<br />
staying in your own country. You have to make that<br />
decision [to move to Europe].”<br />
Moolman-Pasio turned professional in 2010, and<br />
has won the African Continental Championships<br />
road race three times, but this campaign has been her<br />
most rewarding. This season, she bagged 13 top-10s<br />
before competing at Giro Rosa. Her success is hard<br />
earned. “Professional cycling is a very challenging<br />
career because there are so many things out of our<br />
control that can go wrong,” she says. “Injury is a very<br />
real part of the sport. Even in the first year of being<br />
pro, I broke my collarbone three times. The third<br />
time, my mum called me... and said, ‘Isn’t this enough<br />
now?’ I was still so hungry and determined that the<br />
answer was straightaway, ‘No. I haven’t finished what<br />
I’ve started.’”<br />
Getty Images<br />
“In the first year<br />
of being pro, I broke my<br />
collarbone three times”
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