Moolman Pasio plans to start a new team in 2025
The South African is hesitant about the sustainability of the growth of African women in cycling. Squad to support African riders and will sit alongside Rocacorba E-Sport and Gravel teams
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Ashleigh Moolman Pasio is planning to start a road team in 2025 to support African women making the difficult step into the European peloton.
The South African, currently racing the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, already oversees an E-Sports team through the Rocacorba Collective, giving African riders the opportunity to compare themselves with other riders from around the world on Zwift.
“I've started now with my community, my E-Sports team, maybe the next step is a gravel team, but at some point I would like to have a road team that really also focuses on creating a pathway for African cyclists….hopefully 2025 that would be the goal for for our team,” Moolman Pasio told me in a pre-TDFF interview for Cycling News.
The Rocacorba gravel team which is likely to precede the road outfit may be launched in 2024. It’s part of a wider initiative that Moolman Pasio and the rest of the team at the Rocacorba Collective, in partnership with Khaltsha Cycles, are working on, which includes setting up an E-Sports and Learning centre in South Africa’s largest township, Khayelitsha.
This year, an all-time high 16 African women are signed to UCI teams. It’s a mark of the progress already being made, but Moolman Pasio is cautious and aware of the many stumbling blocks.
“Time will tell whether whether it's sustainable. Visas are a big issue for African and South African cyclists. That's the big obstacle that they have to overcome. Most only have access to a three-month tourist visa. And then you know after you've spent your 90 days you have to go back for 90 days before you can return for another 90 days,” she said.
“Nowadays, especially with the World Tour and the salaries going up, it's difficult for teams to invest in a rider that is restricted...if you only have three months, just as you're starting to adapt to the to the peloton here - because it's totally different racing in Europe to what it is in Africa - they have to go home again….What I see more and more is that the riders get homesick. It's very different being in Europe to what it is being in Africa. So it will be interesting to see how sustainable it is for these athletes.”
Moolman Pasio has a contract with her AG Insurance - Soudal -QuickStep team until the end of 2024 and is very happy with the team after a period with SD Worx where the culture didn’t fit well.
Looking beyond her time with Belgian team, she is clear that she wants to do something about these barriers which hinder African riders. Whether that is as a rider or in a role behind-the scenes is unknown.
The next step, she says, is to create a gravel team. The gravel scene is much more accessible for African cyclists, as evidenced by projects like Team Amani in Kenya.
“I think gravel is a great way of introducing. There's a lot of gravel roads in Africa and South Africa, that's where the safest place to ride is at this point in time. If I go back to South Africa now, I wouldn't easily take my road bike. I'd take a mountain bike or a gravel bike because the roads aren't that safe,” she said.
“In terms of of Africa and talent identification and developing that talent - Zwift and gravel is the best place, especially for women right now. So I think that that's a natural way to go.”
“One of the girls in the Khaltsha Rococorba Collective project is showing a lot of a lot of talent, a lot of potential. She's only 16, so she's really, really young. But, you know, I think the next step would be to introduce her to competition through through E-sport and Gravel, before I threw threw her into the deep end with road cycling.”
“My end goal or my big ambition is to actually create a team where as a South African I can have a little bit better understanding of what their needs are and and to create a proper pathway to the World Tour."
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