Moolman-Pasio fails to defend Esports crown

Defending 2020 champion of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Cycling Esports World Championships, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, failed to defend her crown at the second edition of the competition held on 26th February 2022.

The South African cyclist would complete the 54.9km Knickerbocker circuit in Zwift’s New York in a time of 1h:23m:29s but this would not be enough to defend her title or even make the podium as she would finish in 4th place 9 seconds behind 2nd and 3rd place Cecilia Hansen (1h:23m:20s) and Zoe Langham (1h:23m:20s) respectively and 10 seconds behind the newly crowned UCI Cycling Esports world champion Loes Adegeest (1h:23m:19s).

Moolman-Pasio would be found isolated amongst strong teams from the USA, Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark. However, with 2.1km of the 54.9km race left to go, she would take to the front, launching a stinging attack on the first steep ramp to reduce the group down to just four riders. Unfortunately for the South African, Adegeest would deploy her feather PowerUp at the crucial moment at 200m to claim victory.

“It was better than a dream come true!” said Loes Adegeest after the race. “I knew I had to save the feather for the last section if I was going to win the sprint. I saw Ashleigh use hers further down and knew my chances were getting better!”