Jackson produced a powerful finish around the Roubaix velodrome to clinch victory at the end of a brutal 145.5km trek across some fearsome cobbled sections.

Italy's Katia Ragusa was second with Marthe Truyen (23) of Belgium in third place.

Last year's winner Elisa Longo Borghini (31) was part of a big crash with around 45km to go which took down many of the fancied riders and allowed a breakaway group to stay ahead.

Belgium's Lotte Kopecky (27) had looked like the favourite but she could only manage seventh place while Dutch great Marianne Vos (35) never recovered from a mechanical problem and was 10th.

Jackson (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) was one of six members of the original 18-rider breakaway who managed to hold the high-powered chasing groups at bay as they entered the iconic Andre Petrieux velodrome for the climax.

She then outsprinted Ragusa (Liv Racing TeqFind) and Truyen (Fenix-Deceuninck) to take a landmark victory in the so-called 'Hell of the North'.

"When we did the pre-ride and I rode around the velodrome I had a dream of winning, but it was only a dream," Jackson said.

"I wanted to stay ahead of the action. In the final stages the group was coming back to us but I trusted myself and my passion and heart. To cross the finish line first in any race is fun, but this tops everything."

For Kopecky it proved a day of frustration.

"I think we were going pretty well towards the breakaway but then this happened. But it's also bike racing," the SD Worx rider, who went down with teammate Lorena Wiebes as well as Longo Borghini, said.

"Paris-Roubaix. You can predict nothing."