After winning the Zwift-powered Paris-Roubaix Fam for the second time in two years, Trek-Segafredo hoped to win for the third year in a row at the start of the third edition of the event in Denain.

Only Trek-Segafredo riders held up the famous cobbled trophy at the end of the race until Allison Jackson raised her hands in triumph on the Roubaix velodrome on Saturday afternoon.

In 2021 and 2022, Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini won the long-distance solo attack, but it was clear early on that a third victory in the 2023 event would come in a different way.

In the end, the defending champion was not to be. Trek-Segafredo had to cede the cobbled crown and settle for a 12th place finish on the Lucinda brand after a series of crashes and lack of cooperation in the chase behind the winning breakaway group.

"It was very complicated," Brand recalled after the race in the infield of the velodrome. It was a very big group."

"The cobbles were headwindy and it was hard to make a gap. I tried to break away but the lead group was really strong."

"To be honest, when I heard their names, I expected them to win if I couldn't catch them. So the breakaway group did a very strong job and we were too late."

Of course, it didn't help that mid-race Longo Borghini slipped on the muddy cobblestones of Pont-Thibault and crashed while chasing behind the breakaway.

Longo Borghini slipped to the ground two minutes behind with 37km to go. SD Walks' Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Vives were then also involved, and Brand was unable to stop in time and somersaulted over the riders in front of him.

At that point it seemed possible to catch up to the leaders before the line, but from then on it was an uphill battle. Brand and Longo Borghini eventually made it back to the chase group, which finished 12 seconds ahead, but the damage was done long before the velodrome.

"It was a bit of a shock," Brand later joked, "because I didn't think I'd ever flown that high. But, surprisingly, so far so good."

"Of course it was very important, but at the same time I have to say that it was half a standoff there. Not everyone was keen on the job, and we were still looking. But maybe (the crash) made everyone run faster."

Brand also said that the large group in the chase made things tough for her and her team, as sprinter Elisa Balsamo did the early work while many rival sprinters enjoyed running at the back of the pack.

. She said, "There were probably a lot of sprinters sitting in the back, which didn't really motivate the rest of the field. After all, if you give a big group like this more than five minutes, no one is going to help you."

"Of course I would have liked to see a different result, but I don't think it would have made a difference if we had come to the finish with this group.

Trek-Segafredo, along with most of the major teams except Jumbo Visma, sent Lisa Klein to the front.

However, Brand said it made sense to lead the chase as Klein had been sick earlier in the week and her strong teammates were still behind her.

"It was a good situation to have someone in front of me, but Lisa was a little out of shape and I couldn't risk it all on that.

"It would have been a shame to be so far behind when there were so many strong riders behind me. So I wanted to get closer and tried to get with a lot of riders in the final, but in the end it didn't work out. I think we did a good job and I hope everyone came home safe.

"It wasn't easy, we tried to win the third one. It didn't work out, but we did what we could, so we can't blame ourselves."