2023 Paris–Roubaix Femmes

The 2023 Paris–Roubaix Femmes (officially Paris–Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift) was a French road cycling one-day race that took place on 8 April 2023. It was the 3rd edition of Paris–Roubaix Femmes and the 11th event of the 2023 UCI Women's World Tour.

The race was won by Canadian rider Alison Jackson of EF Education–Tibco–SVB in a sprint finish, after the break stayed away from the chasing peloton behind.

Route

Starting in Denain, the race finished on the velodrome in Roubaix after covering , with of cobblestones, spread out over 17 sectors – including the famed Carrefour de l'Arbre and the Mons-en-Pévèle – both ranked at "five stars" in difficulty. The women covered the same final 17 sectors as the men's race. The route was around longer that than the last edition, using additional roads south of the start in Denain prior to the cobblestone sectors, which are similar to previous editions.

Organisers noted they consider it "too dangerous" to include the five star cobbled sector Trouée d'Arenberg due to its proximity to the start in Denain, but they also noted that they "do not rule out that we will pass through ... in the future".
File:Paris-Roubaix femmes 2023 part1.png, A loop south of the start in Denain before heading north
File:Paris-Roubaix 2017 part4.png, Route from Orchies to finish in Roubaix, similar to previous editions

Teams

23 teams took part in the race. All 15 UCI Women's WorldTeams were automatically invited, and were joined by 8 UCI Women's Continental Teams. The two best 2022 UCI Women's Continental Teams (Ceratizit–WNT Pro Cycling and Lifeplus Wahoo) received an automatic invitation, and the other six teams were selected by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the race.

UCI Women's WorldTeams

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UCI Women's Continental Teams

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Race summary

Prior to the race, media tipped Lotte Kopecky () for the win, following her victory at Tour of Flanders the previous week. Other contenders included defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (), Marianne Vos (), Pfeiffer Georgi () and Elise Chabbey ().

The race was held in dry conditions, however some roads were wet after previous days of heavy rain. Starting from Denain, a 18 woman breakaway formed within the first of the race, prior to live television coverage being available – which was subsequently criticised. By the time the first pavé sector was reached, the break was around 6 minutes ahead of the peloton. The time between the peloton and breakaway gradually fell. Vos suffered a mechanical, and fell behind the peloton. On the Mons-en-Pévèle sector of pavé with remaining, Kopecky attacked from the peloton, with key riders such as Longo Borghini, Pfeiffer Georgi and Chabbey joining Kopecky to form a chase group of key contenders.

However, with around remaining, Longo Borghini crashed on the Pont-Thibault à Ennevelin sector of pavé, taking out Kopecky and others in the chasing group. Sanne Cant () suffered severe wounds to her head in the crash, later requiring stitches to her face at a hospital in Lille. The crash delayed the group – allowing Vos to catch them – but the gap to the breakaway gradually fell over time over the remaining kilometres. By the time the Carrefour de l'Arbre pavé sector was reached, the gap to the break had fallen to under a minute. As the now six-rider breakaway group entered the Roubaix Velodrome with a kilometre to go, the gap to the chasing group was around 10 seconds. Alison Jackson () won a sprint finish of the breakaway riders, holding off the chasing group who finished 12 seconds back. Kopecky took the leaders jersey of the UCI Women's World Tour, after winning the sprint of the chasing group.

Jackson later explained that "we were being chased down pretty hard in that last 5km" and that "it's the biggest win of my career and a dream come true". described the win as the biggest in their history. Second and third place riders Katia Ragusa () and Marthe Truyen () both expressed surprise at their results – with Truyen saying "it feels like a victory".

Result

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:2023 Paris-Roubaix (women's race)
Paris–Roubaix Femmes
Paris–Roubaix Femmes
Paris–Roubaix
Paris–Roubaix Femmes