Alison Jackson sprints to career-defining win at chaotic Paris-Roubaix, after huge race-altering crash takes down nearly all of the favourites

On a chaotic day on the cobbles of northern France, Canada’s Alison Jackson proved the strongest remaining member of a large early breakaway which made it all the way to the Roubaix velodrome to secure a career-defining win at the Hell of the North.

At the end of what will certainly prove an unforgettable edition of Paris-Roubaix, EF Education-TIBCO-SVB’s Jackson proved instrumental in ensuring that her breakaway companions stayed clear (just) of an all-star chasing group which included Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos, and Pfeiffer Georgi.

Then, in the final lap of Roubaix’s iconic track, the 34-year-old Canadian had enough in the legs to come around the fading Marion Borras before holding off Liv Racing’s Katia Ragusa in the dying metres for a popular – and surprise – victory, as 23-year-old Marthe Truyen secured the final step on the podium.

Just 12 seconds behind the seemingly untiring Jackson and her battling breakaway colleagues, Kopecky – bearing the scars of a race-altering crash on the cobbles with around 40km to go – beat the courageous Georgi for eighth place.

While the Tour of Flanders winner may rue that crash, which potentially dashed her hopes of a historic Ronde-Roubaix double, no-one can deny Jackson – who had enough energy to perform her trademark victory dance in the velodrome – her place in cycling history.

How the race unfolded

Almost the entirety of the race was defined by that 18-rider-strong early breakaway, formed with around 120km to go, which featured Canyon-Sram’s British champion Alice Towers, Lisa Klein, Alison Jackson, and Susanne Andersen, and built up an extremely dangerous six-minute advantage over the main favourites.

While the breakaway – occasionally punctuated by lone attacks from Team DSM’s strong 20-year-old Daniek Hangeveld and, later, the effervescent Canadian Jackson – irrevocably shaped the race from the front, Marianne Vos’s second crack at Roubaix proved largely a case of playing catch-up from the back.

An early puncture and a bike change ensured that the legendary Dutchwoman spent the majority of the race chasing to regain contact with the main favourites, who themselves appeared constantly in danger of sleep-riding to a surprise breakaway win, with only the work of Trek-Segafredo’s former world champion Elisa Balsamo doing anything to shift the substantial gap to the lead group during the first two-thirds of the race.

But the 2023 Paris-Roubaix reached its first definitive turning point with 50km to go when SD Worx’s pre-race favourite Lotte Kopecky, aiming for a historic Tour of Flanders and Roubaix double, launched an attack – just like last year – on the Auchy-les-Orchies à Bersée sector.

Kopecky’s attack, which was immediately followed by a crash which brought down Elynor Bäckstedt and Charlotte Kool, dragged clear a stellar group of riders, including defending champion Elisa Longo-Borghini, Pfeiffer Georgi, Lucinda Brand, Elise Chabbey, Floortje Mackaij, and Chiara Consonni.

Following a gradual, small regrouping on Mons-en-Pévèle, the race then took arguably its most defining turn with 37km to go, when Longo Borghini slid out on the muddy, greasy cobbles at Pont-Thibault à Ennevelin.

The Italian lost control of her bike and hit the cobbles hard, causing a massive, dramatic pile-up which affected almost every single rider in her all-star group, with Kopecky and teammate Lorena Wiebes seemingly among the worst affected by the horrendous spill.

Indeed, Kopecky, the mud splattered down her left-hand side, initially seemed to struggle in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

But the irrepressible Belgian, well aware that classics history was within her grasp, soon grabbed the race by the scruff of the neck, drilling it at the front of Vos’s group to regain contact with the main favourites and, in the process, ensuring the Jumbo-Visma star – looking to write yet another chapter in her unmatchable cycling opus – finally made it to the pointy end of the race.

Meanwhile, former British champion Georgi demonstrated her clear strength, launching a few stinging digs – once on Camphin-en-Pévèle and then on the tarmac – in a bid to repeat her late attacking heroics at Brugge-De Panne a few weeks ago.

Amidst all the chaos and ever-changing tactical permutations, the remnants of the morning break – pushed on by the seemingly indefatigable Jackson – remained 20 seconds clear with five kilometres to go, as Trek-Segafredo’s cyclocross star Lucinda Brand, and then Canyon-Sram’s Chabbey, attacked from the second group, each to no avail, however.

A strong Longo Borghini move was immediately snuffed out by Kopecky, before the defending champion – knowing her own chances of victory were gone – went to work on the front.

But this most dramatic edition of Paris-Roubaix was always destined to go right down to the wire on the famous old velodrome – and, with the favourites languishing behind, albeit within touching distance, it proved the day of the break, with Jackson emerging as the strongest from a tough, gritty sprint (which also saw Femke Markus hit the boards after a touch of wheels) to take an astonishing career-defining win.

“When we did the pre-ride and I rode around this velodrome, I dreamed of winning. But a lot of the time those dreams just stay dreams. It’s unreal to make it happen,” a beaming Jackson, whose victory at the Queen of the Classics is only the eighth of a pro career which has seen her secure stages at the Tour of Scotland and Simac Ladies Tour, as well as national titles in the road race and time trial.

“I wanted to be part of the action, I wanted to be ahead of the race, I didn’t want to wait. Our team for this spring has just been waiting, and it hasn’t been working.

“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 in order to get good luck and a win.

“It’s a dream come true. To cross the finish line first of any bike race is a special kind of fun, but this one tops that.”