Moolman-Pasio ‘happy and proud’ with eighth place in cycling time trial
ASHLEIGH Moolman-Pasio says she is “feeling content and proud” of her top-10 performance in the women’s cycling individual time trial at the Tokyo Olympics yesterday.
Moolman-Pasio, who finished in 13th place in the 137km road race on Sunday, went out all guns blazing in the 22.1km time trial at the Fuji International Speedway motorsport racetrack.
Having been the 16th rider in the 25-person field, Moolman-Pasio was able to take the lead from the earlier competitors to post a time of 32 minutes 37.60 seconds.
But while Dutch veteran Annemiek van Vleuten overtook her to claim the gold medal in 30:13.49, the 35-year-old from Pretoria – who is based in Spain these days – was still delighted with her eighth place.
Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser grabbed silver (31:09.96), while Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands took the bronze in 31:15.12.
“I am feeling content and proud of what I did. I really gave it a shot today, and I left everything out there,” Moolman-Pasio said.
“I executed the best time trial I’ve ever executed, and that was eighth – that’s the best I could do, so I am happy with that and proud of that.
“At the end of the day, the course favoured the bigger girls a bit more on the downhills – that’s where they made up all their time.
It is what it is, but I just want to say a big thank you for everyone who got up super early in the morning to watch, and just for all the support and love from back home, I really felt it throughout the journey.
Thank you.”
In the men’s competition over a 44.2km course, South Africa’s Stefan de Bod fiuished in 14th position with a time of 57:57, with Slovakia’s Primoz Roglic taking gold in 55:04, while the Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin claimed the silver medal, with the bronze going to Australian Rohan Dennis.