South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio finished sixth in the women’s 118km Dwars door Vlaanderen in Belgium yesterday.
The field stayed together for the first three quarters of the race before a string of attacks ensued on the Knoteberg climb with just over 30km left of the race.
Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling’s Moolman-Pasio formed part of a late-race lead group which included the Dutchwomen quartet of Team Sunweb’s Ellen van Dijk and Floortje Mackaij, Boels Dolmans’s Amy Pieters and Mitchelton Scott’s Annemiek van Vleuten.
BTC City Ljubljana’s Eugenia Bujak (Slovakia) and Canyon-SRAM’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland) were also at the head of affairs.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, pictured here during the SA National Road Championships last year, finished sixth in the women’s Dwars door Vlaanderen in Belgium yesterday. Photo: DoubleST
With five kilometres to go, Van Dijk launched an attack which eventually saw her establish a sizeable lead over the chasers. She soloed to victory in 3:30:34.
The chasers – which included Moolman-Pasio – scrambled for the ascendancy in a sprint for second place. Pieters crossed the line 55 seconds behind the winner. Mackaij rounded out the podium.
Moolman-Pasio – after finishing second overall at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana in Spain in February, eighth at the Strade Bianche in early March, seventh at the Gent-Wevelgem last weekend and sixth yesterday – is now ranked eighth on the UCI women’s WorldTour rankings.
View more results of the Dwars door Vlaanderen below.
1. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Team Sunweb Women 3:30:24
2. Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam +0:55
3. Floortje Mackaij (Ned) Team Sunweb Women
4. Eugenia Bujak (Slo) BTC City Ljubljana
5. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton Scott Women
6. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team
7. Malgorzata Jasinska (Pol) Movistar Team Women
8. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM Racing
9. Susanne Andersen (Nor) Hitec Products-Birk Sport +01:47
10. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
