Changing seasons for Alison Jackson

After Alison Jackson spent January racing in Australia, she was back at her family farm in Vermilion, Alta. She went from summer to winter, but then went looking for warmer weather once again. Jackson, her husband, their dog Willow and road-trip truck, named Thomas, headed south for a Tibco-svb team camp in California.

Just as the big drive was beginning, Jackson looked back at her Australian campaign. “This was my second time racing in Australia,” she said. “It really cuts the offseason short, but I love racing into fitness. I wasn’t at my strongest, but I raced really smart. I had a super committed team with me that really showed itself in the consistent results I had. It is experience and tactical smarts that also made the difference in how I raced this year compared with last year. It was a good start. We really wanted to win races, but I always finished just off the podium in fourth or fifth on the sprint days and the climbing days.” At the Women’s Tour Down Under, Jackson was third in the points classification and fifth overall. At the Women’s Herald Sun Tour, she was third in the mountains classification.

This spring, northern hemisphere spring, Jackson and her team will focus on the Women’s World Tour in Europe. In May, it will be back to California. “The Amgen Tour of California is a big target for our California-based squad,” she said. “The courses are hard and will give rise to dramatic racing in 2019.”