Alison Jackson (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) has taken the biggest victory of her career by winning Paris-Roubaix Femmes. She was part of an early breakaway of 18 riders, and seven of them stayed ahead all the way to the velodrome.
Katisa Ragusa (Liv Racing-Teqfind) and Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck) rounded out the podium in a six-rider sprint that finished 12 seconds ahead of a chasing group led to the line by pre-race favourite Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx).
Femke Markus (SD Worx) crashed on the final lap, Marion Borras (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) launched the sprint, but Jackson came around her in the final turn to take the victory.
"When we did the pre-ride and rode around this velodrome, I just dreamt of winning. But a lot of times, those dreams just stay dreams. It's unreal to make it happen in real life. I have few words," the usually exuberant Jackson was almost speechless, a single tear rolling down her face during the winner's interview.
"I wanted to be a part of the action. I wanted to be ahead of the race, I didn't want to wait. Because we had a bit of rain earlier in the week, it was going to be slick out there, and in a race like this, you just need to avoid bad luck. When the move went, I was just waiting and available, and then wanted to ride it," Jackson explained her tactics for the day.
"In the final, the group was coming back to us, and there were only four of us, maybe, in that group of seven who actually wanted to ride. But either you don't ride and you lose the race, or you ride hard and you maybe have a chance. I just trusted in myself and in my passion for just wanting to get in the bike race, and it turned out with a win. It's a dream come true," Jackson finished before lifting the famous cobblestone trophy on the podium.
How it unfolded
The first 63 km of the 145.5-kilometre race were on asphalt, but then the pavé sectors came in quick succession, with 29.2 km of cobblestones on 17 different sectors.
A breakaway of 18 riders, all from different teams, formed after about 20 km and included Jackson, Ragusa, Truyen, Markus, Borras, Lisa Klein (Trek-Segafredo), Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM), Eugénie Duval (FDJ-SUEZ), Daniek Hengeveld (Team DSM), Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT), Laura Tomasi (UAE Team ADQ), Josie Talbot (Cofidis), Lisa van Helvoirt (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Julia Borgström (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick Step), Marie-Morgane Le Deunff (Arkéa Pro Cycling Team), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), Amber Pate (Team Jayco-AlUla), and Jesse Vandenbulcke (Human Powered Health).
Since only six teams weren't represented in the break, there wasn't much interest in controlling the gap, and the breakaway entered pavé sector 17 (counting down towards the finish) over five minutes ahead. Hengeveld then attacked and went solo on sector 16 just as Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma) had to change bikes after a mechanical and dropped back from the peloton.
Hengeveld continued on her own with a gap of about 30 seconds to her former companions while the favourites tried to reduce their deficit. Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) set up an attack by her team leader Lotte Kopecky on sector 12, Auchy à Bersée, 53 km from the finish.
A wet patch on the cobbles caused a crash that split the peloton behind Kopecky, and a chase group formed around her and defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), steadily reducing the gap to the front.
Hengeveld was reeled in by the rest of the break with 43 km to go, and the chase group grew to 18 riders as well, coming to within 2:20 minutes. But on sector 9, Pont-Thibault à Ennevelin, a crash brought down or held up almost the entire chase group – only Romy Kasper (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick Step) came through unscathed and continued on her own.
In the front, Ragusa, Markus, and Jackson unsuccessfully tried to split the group, and at the 25-kilometre mark, the break was 1:48 minutes ahead of a nine-rider chase group. Another large group containing many of the pre-race favourites was at 2:24 minutes.
Jackson made another move up a short incline but did not get away. Andersen led the break onto the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the last five-star sector, 17 km from the velodrome, and Lach then increased the pace to split the group. Jackson, Duval, Truyen, Markus, and Tomasi were on her wheel, but Tomasi crashed on the cobbles.
Only Jackson and Lach were fully committed to the breakaway, so Ragusa and Borras returned to the front on the asphalt. The group of favourites also came ever closer from behind and was only 36 seconds down with 12.5 km to go. Jackson led the front group over the last real pavé sector with the favourites only 10 seconds behind, then Duval attacked but could not get away in the headwind.
The gap had gone out to 20 seconds again at the five-kilometre mark. From the chase group, Brand attempted to bridge to the front but was closed down by Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck). The break was 12 seconds ahead as they crossed the ceremonial pavé sector just before the entrance to the Roubaix velodrome, and Lach led the group onto the track.
Markus tried to move up on the inside but crashed going into the turn, leaving six riders to sprint for the win. Borras accelerated up the back straight and took the lead, but Jackson had timed her sprint well and came past in the last 100 metres to win. Kopecky led home the group of favourites 12 seconds later.
Results
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