It has been 33 years since Steve Bauer narrowly missed winning Paris-Roubaix by just 1 cm in 1990, when he finished a hard-fought second in the Roubaix Velodrome in a breakaway sprint behind winner Eddie Plancale.

Not since Bauer's feat had a Canadian stood on the podium until Allison Jackson made her mark on history and firmly established herself as the first Canadian and North American to win the northern hellhole in the 2023 Paris-Roubaix fam. [It's a great achievement for Allison and Canadian cycling. It's a great achievement for Allison and for Canadian cycling. Congratulations on this historic victory, the first Canadian male or female to win Paris-Roubaix," Bauer told Cyclingnews.

Bauer is now the sporting director of the Israeli Premier Tech men's team, leading a seven-man team that includes Canadians Guillaume Boivin and Derek Gee, who will support team leader Sepp Vanmarcke in Sunday's 256.6 km men's race.

Jackson had never been on the podium in a cobbled classic race before winning Paris-Roubaix. Nevertheless, she has risen to become one of the top riders in the peloton, winning a stage victory in the Ladies Tour and a double national title in the road race and time trial in 2021. She also represented Canada at the Tokyo Olympics.

This season, he targeted the spring classics and hoped to make his mark in Paris-Roubaix.

It couldn't have been a better start for her, as she was in the breakaway in the first 15km after the start in Denain.

Against strong teams like SD Walks, which has dominated the spring classics, and Trek-Segafredo, which has won the last two, many thought such an early breakaway had little chance.

However, in the last two women's races, Lizzie Deignan attacked in front of Hornén à Vandigny in the first race in 2021 and rode solo for over 80 km to win, and in the second race last year, Elisa Longo Borghini won the cobbled section of the Templeve with 34 km to go. She attacked and won the race.

Jackson, by contrast, won the most prizes of the 18 women, and was six minutes ahead of the peloton by the time they entered the first cobbled section at Hornen with 82 km to go.

Bauer, who was watching the women's race unfold live from the men's team hotel, said he was impressed by Jackson's strength and determination as she rallied to keep the breakaway group together in the final kilometers toward the Roubaix velodrome.

"Her run in the final was really impressive. She pushed the breakaway group to the end, kept working the whole way and still beat everyone in the sprint. She proved to be the strongest and was great to watch," Bauer told Cycling News.

The resurgent chasing pack closed to within 10 seconds of the breakaway in the final kilometers, but Jackson and the rest of the pack held on to claim the win in Roubaix.

It was surprising that Jackson had anything left for the sprint, but she found an opening in the final few hundred meters and crossed the win line, making history as the first Canadian to hoist the cobbled trophy over her head on the podium as the winner of Hell in the North.