Ashley Moolman Pasio donned the rainbow jersey on Wednesday, her 35th birthday.

Indeed, the South African native feels that despite consistently leading the women's peloton over her 11-year career, there is still unfulfilled potential.

She has 41 wins, but less than half of those have come in Europe, and none on the World Tour or its predecessors.

Part of the reason for this is the minimum bike weight set by the UCI, which requires her, at 178 cm tall, to carry more bike than she needs.

"I think it's pretty outdated," she said of this rule, which does not exist in virtual racing. For a smaller rider like me, it really puts me at a disadvantage."

While this rule will remain, another reason for not reaching its potential is about to be resolved. Moolman Pasio will move to the SD Worx team (now Boels Dolmans) in 2021, where she will rub shoulders with world champion Anna van der Breggen and former world champion Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak.

The Dutch team is known for its depth and flexibility in racing with its numbers. This is in contrast to her leadership roles at CCC-Liv for the past two years and at Bigla before that.

"The luxury of having a few riders who can win races instead of being the only leader takes the pressure off. It really gives me the freedom to race," said Mourman Pacio. [I'm a good pressure rider, but sometimes I miss the chance to lose.

"Maybe I don't take the risk of losing because I put everything into winning. Sometimes taking the risk of losing means that you win in a really impressive way because you are not afraid to lose."

Mourman Pacio signed a two-year contract and reiterated that it would be the last two years of her career. Being a mother is part of the plan, and it makes more sense to race at home than spend most of the year on the road.

"In terms of what I want to accomplish on the road, I want to use these two years as an opportunity to be the best cyclist possible.

"I think the reason I didn't achieve the big result of winning the World Tour is because I raced too cautiously.

Moolman-Pasio has already begun working with her new team, with the first team meeting taking place virtually and a social ride on Zwift scheduled for Thursday. She is hoping for a "normal" season as the pandemic continues.

"It's strange because normally I'd be in camp by now. After finishing the season in Flanders, I took three weeks off and went back to training." I'm really excited about the new team. It's a great opportunity to race with Anna and everyone else."

"I'm looking forward to that and also looking forward to having a somewhat normal season, hopefully starting in February and then the normal season will begin. The re-start of the season this year shows that it is possible. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope that the normal season starts in February.

"I'm looking forward to it, but I have to find time to wear the rainbow jersey in the virtual world too."