Until the end, the third edition of Paris-Roubaix women was unpredictable. In a day marked by crashes and a breathless pursuit between runaways and the group of favorites, victory finally went to the surprise Canadian Alison Jackson, who dominated in the sprint a group of seven riders who survived the first breakaway of the day. . In the stroke up to 100m from the line, the French Eugénie Duval and Marion Borras, finally 4th and 5th, will be able to harbor regrets.
The favorites hampered by a fall
All these runners were part of the “morning” breakaway, the one who had taken to their heels 145km from the finish, without frankly believing that they would ultimately arrive in Roubaix together. Their lead was indeed skilfully controlled by the group of favorites, who voluntarily gave them free time. But the cards were completely reshuffled when it was slowed down for a long time by one of the many massive falls of the day, which left almost everyone on the ground, starting with the great favorite of the day, Lotte Kopecky.
Back on their bikes, all the headliners, including the outgoing winner Elisa Longo Borghini, then worked to fill the three minutes that separated them from the race leader. The group of ushers, reduced to seven units after the mythical sector of the Carrefour de l’Arbre, thus saw its lead melt down to ten seconds. But he took advantage of the prevarication of their pursuers and the marking on Kopecky to hold on until the velodrome, where they disputed the victory.
Borras kicked too soon
With seven runners, the final sprint was then eventful. However well placed, the Dutch Femke Markus fell, which hampered Duval, then in the lead, but opened the door to Borras, who attacked before the last corner. The Frenchwoman from St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 was probably too ambitious: she was finally swallowed up 100m from the line by the leading trio, including Jackson, more powerful than Katia Ragusa and Marthe Truyen. The Canadian did not steal her victory: in the mano a mano with the favorites, it was she who did the most to resist their comeback.
At 34, the former Canadian champion celebrated her success for a long time and loudly, by far the most beautiful of her career, on the lawn of the velodrome. “It’s a dream, it’s unreal, admitted the runner from EF Education-Tibco-SVB. I wanted to be up front. In a race, you have to avoid bad luck to win. In the final, we knew the group was coming back, but it would have been too bad to lose after such a long breakaway. I trusted myself and I managed to impose myself. “With the way, what’s more.