Alison “Action” Jackson won Saturday’s third running of Paris-Roubaix Femmes from a breakaway that stayed away. It’s the biggest win of her career and EF Education-TIBCO-SVB’s first WorldTour victory of the season.
Introduction and Course
Could anybody stop SD-Worx? Not only had the team taken five of the last seven rounds of the WorldTour, it had also won non-WWT competitions like Dwars door Vlaanderen and Scheldeprijs. WorldTour leader Lorena Wiebes and red-hot Lotte Kopecky were SD Worx’s two aces. Reigning champ Elisa Longo Borghini headed up a strong Trek-Segafredo squad. Marianne Vos was looking for her first victory of the season.
The Canadian contingent was comprised of Gabrielle Pilote-Fortin (Cofidis), EF Education-TIBCO-SVB duo Alison Jackson and Sara Poidevin, and Maggie Coles-Lyster of the financially beleaguered Zaaf squad, who was eighth at Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs. Jackson was the top Canadian in the first two editions. Her teammate Zoe Bäckstedt used her father’s pedals from when Magnus won Paris-Roubaix in 2004.
The route was 145.5 km long with 18 cobbled sectors equaling 29.2 km. The last 84 km of the men’s and women’s races are identical, so the brutal five-star sections of Mons-en-Pévèle (3 km long) and Carrefour de l’Arbre (2.1 km) were on the route, but there was no Trouée d’Arenberg early in the course.
#ParisRoubaixFemmes WE
🚩 Denain
🏁 Roubaix
🚴🏻♂️ 146 Km
Weather: ☁ 11°C, overcast clouds
Route: https://t.co/mIBcBZb28x pic.twitter.com/4n0cIWhxnD— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) April 8, 2023
Jackson was part of large breakaway that started forming 15 km outside the start town of Denain. Only six squads, including Jumbo-Visma or Movistar, weren’t represented. A crash in the peloton that split it into two parts played into the fugitives’ hands, and by the time they reached the first cobble sector, four-star Hornaing à Wandignies, the gap was nearly 6:00.
Jackson led onto the cobbles.
First cobbles!
17 | KM 63.0 | TO GO 82.4 | ✪✪✪✪ | Hornaing à Wandignies (3.7km)#ParisRoubaixFemmes avec Zwift
Live: https://t.co/DqMSvROS1k pic.twitter.com/MXhgfZxlmX
— UCI_WWT (@UCI_WWT) April 8, 2023
Fugitive Daniek Hengeveld (The Netherlands/DSM) scampered away from her breakmates and bounced along the Warlaing à Brillon and Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières solo. Back in the peloton, a mechanical for Vos meant she was behind the bunch….
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