Zwift Tour for All: Moolman-Pasio wins women's stage 2

VENTURA CALIFORNIA MAY 16 Ashleigh MoolmanPasio of South Africa and Team CCC Liv competes during the Amgen Tour Of California Womens Race 2019 Stage 1 a 965km stage from Ventura to Ventura AmgenTOCWomen AmgenTOC on May 16 2019 in Ventura California Photo by Sean M HaffeyGetty Images
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) (Image credit: Getty Images)

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio gave the CCC-Liv team its second consecutive victory in the Zwift Tour for All, following up Marianne Vos' win on stage 1 with a powerful surge on the final climb of Zwift's simulation of the 2015 Richmond worlds course.

Moolman-Pasio pushed CCC-Liv to a one-point advantage over Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank in the standings, with Canyon-SRAM a distant 42 points behind.

"I had to work for it," Moolman-Pasio said. "It was super exciting and I loved it."

The South African and her teammate Vos tag-teamed the intermediate sprint bonuses, taking turns to grab the QOM points that added to the team's tally in the overall classification. 

Moolman-Pasio has been racing frequently on Zwift during the coronavirus lockdown in Spain and used her knowledge to her advantage, using a well-timed featherweight bonus to escape for the win on the final climb.

"I'm lucky enough to have experience hacing raced Zwift classics," Moolman-Pasio said. "I've spent several weeks on Zwift during the lockdown in Spain. I wanted to make the race as hard as possible together with my teammates so the final attack, which I planned to do on the final climb. I was lucky enough to have a feather to help me out."

Vos and Moolman-Pasio were part of a nine-rider chase group behind solo attacker Kirsten Faulkner (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank) coming into the final two laps of the punchy circuit.

Also in the group were Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans), Lauren Stephens and Nina Kessler (Tibco), Tanja Erath and Jessica Pratt (Canyon-SRAM), Krista Doebel-Hickok (Rally Cycling), and Alice Tacey (Drops).

The group reeled in Faulkner just outside 10km to go and then had to face the trio of short, sharp climbs of Libby Hill, 23rd Street and the final push to the finish line on Broad Street.

A surge on 23rd street distanced Majerus, Tacey, Pratt and Erath, leaving six riders in contention for victory heading into the final 800m. As they rounded the bend to start the climb, Moolman-Pasio shot out of the pack then turned on her featherweight bonus and vanished up the road.

As she celebrated the win, Stephens surged in for second with Vos rounding out the podium in third.

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Brief Results
Pos.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) CCC-Liv 1:09:46
2Lauren Stephens (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank 0:00:07
3Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv 0:00:10
4Krista Doebel-Hickok (USA) Rally Cycling Women
5Kristen Faulkner (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank 0:00:18
6Nina Kessler (Ned) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank 0:00:32
7Jessica Pratt (Aus) Canyon-Sram Racing 0:00:47
8Tanja Erath (Ger) Canyon-Sram Racing 0:00:54
9April Tacey (GBr) Drops 0:01:03
10Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:01:07

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.

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