Mia Griffin has become the first Irish woman to ride, and finish, Paris-Roubaix. The Israel Premier Tech Roland rider was among the survivors on a dramatic day of racing when the early breakaway survived and some 40 riders fell by the wayside during a war of attrition.
The 24-year-old from Co Kilkenny, who was among 104 finishers, told stickybottle on the eve of the race she was braced for "war" on the pavé and, unfortunately, she endured more than her fair share of incidents during the 145.4km of racing.
Griffin suffered a crash just before the race reached the first section of cobbles and though she chased back on, and regained the main field on the third sector, she almost immediately suffered a second problem. Griffin hit a pothole and was forced to wait by the roadside for a new bike.
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While she got back on her bike, the main field was long gone up the road, with Griffin getting into a group with the aim of making it to the velodrome. In the end, she finished in 83rd place, some 13:36 down on winner Alison Jackson (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB).
Some 20 riders finished but were outside the time cut while another 18 were non finishers, many of them the victim of crashes along the way.
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Jackson took a win for the ages; the Canadian going in the early breakaway and forcing it forward every time the pace eased off. While a chasing group, stacked with many of the biggest names in the world, was just 10 seconds down on the breakaway in the final, Jackson stepped up to take primary responsibility to keep the group clear.
And when the leaders reached the velodrome, Jackson positioned herself close to the front, opening her seated sprint on the final bend to win from Katia Ragusa (Liv Racing TeqFind) and Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck). The first six riders across the line were all members of the early breakaway. Eugénie Duval (FDJ-SUEZ) was 4th, Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck) 5th and Marta Lach (CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling) placed 6th.
Some of the big names in the chase group put in attacks in the finale, including Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo). However, while the gap to the leaders came down to 10 seconds several times, it would fall no further. In the end, Kopecky won the sprint for 7th place some 12 seconds after a stunned Jackson took the sprint for victory.
We'll speak to Griffin tomorrow.
