(Reuters) – Canada’s Alison Jackson was a surprise winner of the Paris Roubaix Femmes as she edged a thrilling sprint finish after many of the race favourites had been caught up in crashes.
Jackson produced a powerful finish around the Roubaix velodrome to clinch victory at the end of a brutal 145.5km trek across some fearsome cobbled sections.
Italy’s Katia Ragusa was second with Marthe Truyen of Belgium in third place.
Last year’s winner Elisa Longo Borghini was part of a big crash with around 45km to go which took down many of the fancied riders and allowed a breakaway group to stay ahead.
Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky had looked like the favourite but she could only manage seventh place while Dutch great Marianne Vos never recovered from a mechanical problem and was 10th.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
