Alison Jackson relaxed about defending her title at Paris-Roubaix: "I've always wanted to write my name in the history books"

12 months after her career victory at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Canadian champion Alison Jackson will be back on the roads that brought her the tremendous success. Jackson knows well that while winning once is by no means easy, defending her title will be even harder now that everyone will watch her steps. Her own goal? To continue having fun while cycling.

"For me, it was going to have a lot of meaning to win a Monument and also to write my name in the history book as the first Canadian, male or female, to have won any of the Monuments. Yeah, that itself I am really proud of," Jackson told Cyclingnews. "I've always wanted to write my name in the history books. So becoming a 'cycling legend', yeah, this result will stay with me for a long time."

"It was wild to see the response from the fans and people in the sport love to see a breakaway win. They also love to see a character win. So the way that I raced, all the videos showed me like being at the front and pulling the group to make the action happen. You could see the effort put in, the grit and the determination that it took," Jackson reflected.

"We will lose so often going to get that little bit of a win, that can take you years and years," Jackson said. "That one win that gives you that energy to keep fighting and training hard and riding in the rainy weather. Things like that just validate the journey and that special type of fun."