Alison Jackson takes win and GC lead at Simac Ladies Tour

Alison Jackson wasn’t waiting around. Just 25 km into Wednesday’s first stage of the Simac Ladies Tour, a six-day Women’s World Tour event in the Netherlands, the Canadian went on the attack.

Jackson (Liv Racing) was joined in the breakaway by two riders, Nina Buysman (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Maëlle Grossetête  (FDJ-Nouvelle Acquitaine). The trio worked together well, and the remaining two held off the chasing peloton all the way to the finish line in Hardenberg.

“Normally in a stage like today you would wait for the bunch sprint, but I saw opportunities for an early attack. I was happy that, after I had attacked, I was joined by two other riders as this increased a chance for success. We have seen many times in the recent past that strong leading groups can last until the finish line” Jackson said.

? What a fabulous win for @aliACTIONjackso! ?#SLT2021 pic.twitter.com/XKeSO3MURF

— Liv Racing (@LivRacingWT) August 25, 2021

“When you decide to attack, you have to believe in it”

Simac Ladies Tour, which was known as Boels Ladies Tour in previous years and the Holland Ladies Tour before that, is a Women’s World Tour stage race. With WWT standing, it was an all-star field chasing down Jackson as the escapees and peloton raced towards Hardenberg.

“Every kilometre we came closer to the finish, it got more exciting. We had tailwind at the end. Before that, we pushed each other to ride as hard as we could at the front to make the gap big enough. Behind us, our teams tried to slow down the peloton,” says Jackson. The Canadian and Grossetête managed to hold the break, but with the field within sight on the finishing straight.

?‍♀️Wow. The breakaway survives. The winner of stage 1 Zwolle – Hardenberg is
?@aliACTIONjackso @LivRacingWT
? @maelle__G @FDJ_NAqui_Fut
?@lorenawiebes @TeamDSM
4 @marianne_vos @JumboVismaWomen
5 @charlotte_kool @NXTGRacing #SLT2021 #UCIWWT pic.twitter.com/cn6Z4MkRDV

— Simac Ladies Tour (@ladiestour) August 25, 2021

“Whether I thought we could make it? You never count on it, but when you decide to attack you have to believe in it,” Jackson shared after the race. “If you believe you can do it, you get motivation from that. As a team, we always ride to win.”

?‍♀️Stagewinner @aliACTIONjackso @LivRacingWT wasn’t realy surprised the breakaway survived in Hardenberg. ‘Belief in what your legs can do.’ #SLT2021 #UCIWWT pic.twitter.com/wNHoRuKOmE

— Simac Ladies Tour (@ladiestour) August 25, 2021

Jackson not only outran the peloton, she out-sprinted Grossetête for the win. It’s the Canadian’s first Women’s World Tour win. Her winning time, 3:18:20, puts Jackson in the overall leader’s jersey on the same time as the legendary Marianne Vos. The Cnadian also wears the Simac Ladies Tour combativity and mountain classification jersy’s. The latter, Jackson earned by being first over the Lemelerberg mid-stage.

Leah Kirchmann, the only other Canadian in the race, finished 50th for Team DSM. Kirchmann was four seconds back on the Stage. That puts her 23rd overall after the Prologue and Stage 1, 11 second behind Jackson.

? A successful day for @aliACTIONjackso and Liv Racing in the @ladiestour.

Stage win ?
Leader of the general classification ?
Leader of the mountain classification ?️
Leader of the combativity classification ?

? https://t.co/UZME2oezvp#SLT2021 pic.twitter.com/APLaVc1M0k

— Liv Racing (@LivRacingWT) August 25, 2021

Simac Ladies Tour: Results – Stage 1 (Top 10)

Simac Ladies Tour: General Classification after Stage 1