Ashleigh Moolman Pasio has been announced as the new general manager of Team Amani after she hangs up her wheels at the end of the 2026 season.
Currently racing her final season with AG Insurance-Soudal, the South African is set to take overall responsibility for the team, which includes women’s and men’s UCI Continental squads as well as a development system.
40-year-old Moolman Pasio took up an advisory role this season alongside racing, but will join the team full-time from next year.
Team Amani’s women’s team have set a target of racing the Tour de France Femmes in 2028 and began racing in Europe this season, competing in events such as the Volta a Catalunya and Tour Féminin des Pyrénees. The men’s team also races in the third tier of the sport and has raced in Rwanda, Mauritius and Türkiye this season. Both teams are made up solely of riders from East Africa.
Former men's WorldTour professional Tsgabu Grmay is currently in charge of the women's team, mostly made up of fellow Ethiopians. South African Clint Hendricks is sports director for the men's team.
Team Amani was founded with the purpose of addressing the inequalities at the heart of professional cycling by creating opportunities for African riders to race at the highest levels. Initially, the focus of the project was on off-road disciplines, adding road racing to the project in the last two years.
Two members of Team Amani were present at the Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ in Lausanne alongside Moolman Pasio, who is not racing the Tour, when the news was announced. Rwandan Xaverine Nirere and Ugandan Mary Aleper followed the race in the convoy and were given access to speak to each of the jersey wearers behind the podium after the stage.
Moolman Pasio is Africa’s most-experienced professional rider in the women’s peloton, moving to Europe in 2010. She has won 49 UCI races in her career, including the 2022 Tour de Romandie. Now, she will pass her experience onto the next generation.
“I will be joining Team Amani as General Manager, with one bold ambition: to help lead the women’s team to the start line of the Tour de France Femmes by 2028,” Moolman Pasio said in a press release.
“Looking back, I’ve spent my entire career trying to prove that coming from Africa doesn’t have to be a limitation. There was no obvious pathway when I started. We had to build it as we went. Every step of my journey has required finding unconventional solutions to seemingly impossible challenges. Now, I’m incredibly excited to take everything I’ve learned and pay it forward.
“Helping build Team Amani isn’t simply my next job. It feels like the natural continuation of everything I’ve been working towards,” Moolman Pasio added.
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