ASHLEIGH MOOLMAN-PASIO
SOUTH AFRICAN ROAD CYCLIST
About Ashleigh
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio is a South African professional cyclist and one of the finest cyclists in the World today. Ashleigh can excel on a variety of terrains but is especially strong in the hills and mountains. She is a multiple national and African champion and has also won numerous World level races around the World. Ashleigh currently rides for the World No.4 ranked team Cervelo-Bigla ProCycling Team.
Ashleigh started cycling in 2008 while studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch. It was through her husband Carl Pasio; that she discovered a love for endurance sport. Ashleigh always enjoyed sport, but had only ever dabbled in the more tradition sports at school. It was through Carl that she was introduced to a life of competitive endurance sports. First she tried out triathlon and duathlon, but after struggling with running induced injuries, Ashleigh decided to focus on cycling, a decision she will never regret!
In 2009 she joined a local South African cycling outfit, the Toyota Cycle Lab ladies team and raced extensively in South Africa, whilst completing her engineering degree. She quickly proved her worth as a competitive cyclist in South Africa. On completing her engineering degree at the end of 2009 and with the support of her local team and husband, Ashleigh decided to take the next step to race internationally in 2010. At the end of 2009 she signed with the Belgium UCI team, Lotto Belisol Ladies team, to compete in Europe the following year.
2010 turned out to be a very challenging year for her. She broke her collarbone three times in the space of 12 months. This all happened during the period between October 2009 to October 2010, her first year as a professional cyclist.
Despite the challenges, Ashleigh managed to pull through and surprised herself and many others with a 17th place finish overall in the 2010 Giro d’Italia Femminile, her first ever participation in an international grand tour event.
Ashleigh continued to race internationally in 2011, improving her results and working her way up in the international rankings. She started 2010 ranked 289th in the World, at the end of 2011, she was ranked 39th, and has progressed to a World high ranking of 3rd in the Summer of 2017.
Ashleigh is passionate about progressing women’s cycling and regularly blogs about her experiences as a professional cyclist on cyclingnews.com.