Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio was happy to finish second in the 118.5km La Flèche Wallonne at Mur de Huy in Belgium yesterday.
But she was disappointed not to clinch the top spot in a race she has come close to winning on a number of occasions.
“It is a race that is important to me and I have finished in the top five many times before,” Moolman-Pasio told In the Bunch today.
“I only once finished on the podium before and that was in 2013. Since then I have tried so hard to finish on the podium again and of course to win the race. That is still an objective of mine.
“Yesterday I came so close to victory, so in that sense it was disappointing not to make it onto the top step.”
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (right) pictured at the Tour of Flanders a few weeks ago, was happy to finish second in the La Flèche Wallonne in Belgium yesterday. Photo: Sean Robinson/Velofocus
Moolman-Pasio has been in good form recently, having finished in the top-10 in the Gent-Wevelgem three weeks ago and the Dwars door Vlaanderen four days after that, followed by a fourth-place in the Tour of Flanders a week later.
The Cervelo Bigla rider said she felt she was “up against it” for large parts of the race yesterday.
“We [Cervelo Bigla] had a bit of a hiccup in the race when our key rider Marie Vilmann crashed out of the race.
“There was a moment in the race where I felt I lost it. I was up against Boels Dolmans and Mitchelton Scott riders, possibly two of the strongest teams in the field.
“Then they went ahead, but my Danish teammate Cecilie [Ludwig] managed to maintain the gap. She did an incredible job in the breakaway.
“It was a real game of poker, because we could not bring the breakaway too soon otherwise the other teams would just start attacking again.”
The reduced bunch then came within sight at the bottom of the Mur de Huy, Moolman-Pasio said, and she attacked with about 150 metres to go, which was when Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) caught and passed her to win the race.
Moolman-Pasio added that their team manager, Thomas Campana, had helped her stay calm when she was starting to panic.
“He did a great job of staying calm and keeping me calm because that is sometimes my downfall; I get overly stressed when I feel things are slipping away.
“I am really grateful to the team for delivering me to the point where I was able to make a difference.”
