Alison Jackson

Biography

Alison Jackson achieved the biggest result of her road cycling career when she won the 2023 Paris-Roubaix Femmes one-day race. She conquered the 145km course with its many cobblestone sections and took the victory in a sprint finish. She was the first North American rider – male or female – to win this classic Paris-Roubaix race and the first Canadian to win one of road cycling’s five Monuments. She earned another major international victory in 2024 when she won the second stage of the Vuelta Espana Femenina.  

Jackson made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 where she competed in the women’s road race after initially being selected as an alternate before a quota spot opened up. Two months later, she placed sixth in the women’s road race at the 2021 UCI World Championships, her career best individual result at the worlds. She had twice finished fifth in the team time trial in 2015 and 2016.

Jackson is a two-time national champion in the women’s road race, taking the title in 2021 and 2023, sandwiched around a second-place finish in 2022. In 2021 she also won the national title in the women’s individual time trial.

In 2023, Jackson was a double medallist at the Pan American Championships, taking silver in the road race and bronze in the individual time trial.

Jackson joined her first pro team, TWENTY16, in 2015 and competed in three stage races: Tour of the Gila, Tour of California, and Tour Cycliste Féminin Internationale de l’Ardèche. In one-day races, she finished 10^th at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau and fourth in the road race at the Canadian Championships. In her debut at the UCI World Championships, she was fifth in the team time trial and 36^th in the road race.

In 2016, she finished sixth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau and fifth at the Canadian Championships. In two late-season stage races, she reached the podium in the points classification at the Trophée d’Or Féminin and the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardeche. She was once again part of a fifth-place finish in the team time trial at the UCI World Championships, but improved on her road race result, finishing 23^rd.

In 2017, Jackson earned her first medal at the Canadian Championships, taking home bronze in the road race. She joined pro team Bepink Cogeas on the UCI Tour and competed in her first Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile, earning a seventh-place finish in Stage 7. She also raced in her first La Course by Le Tour de France before competing in her third straight world championships.

Jackson moved to Team TIBCO-SVB for two seasons, starting in 2018. She earned a runner-up finish in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau and was top five in both the road race and time trial at the Canadian Championships. She finished third in the mountain classification at the Lotto Belgium Tour. She capped the season with a top-10 finish at the Tour of Guangzi Women’s World Tour race. In early 2019, she earned a ninth-place finish at the Amstel Gold Race. She built towards a then-career-best result at the UCI World Championships, where she finished 16^th in the road race. She finished the year with a second-place finish at the Tour of Guangxi. 

In a pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Jackson raced with Team SunWeb on the newly named WorldTour. She returned to the Giro d’Italia and competed at her sixth straight UCI World Championships. She also competed in some notable one-day races: La Flèche Wallone, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the Tour de Flandres.

In March 2021, with Liv Racing, she posted a fifth-place finish at the Tour de Flandres. That August, she topped the points classification at the Ladies Tour of Norway and then earned her first international victory, winning the first stage of the Simac Ladies Tour.

Jackson raced with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB in 2023 and EF Education-Cannondale in 2024.    

A Little More About Alison

Getting into the Sport: Got into group riding and racing after beginning as a triathlete… Entered her first road cycling races in 2014 after competing in cross-country running and track at Trinity Western University and training in triathlon… Decided she wanted to be a professional athlete and an Olympian so went all in on road cycling… Outside Interests: Ambassador for Right to Play… Earned her Bachelor of Human Kinetics, Kinesiology and Exercise Science in 2014 from Trinity Western University… Loves to take dance classes and throw living room dance parties… Enjoys challenging herself in the kitchen, cross-country skiing, and spending time on the family farm… Odds and Ends: Got her nickname, AJ, during her first pro season… Collects coffee from different roasters during her international travels… Favourite motto: “Do well with what you have been given”… Biggest athletic inspiration is Canadian Olympic champion cross-country skier Beckie Scott who is from her hometown… Credits her hometown ballet teacher, Miss Ryan Wilson, for inspiring her ‘to seek new things, dream big, work hard and you can go from zero to hero’…