Lorena Wiebes recovered from an opening-day crash in style as she sprinted to a dominant victory on stage two of the Women’s Tour.
But Wiebes, who rides for Team DSM, justified her status as favourite for Tuesday’s 92km stage, which started and finished in Harlow, Essex.
Italy’s Barbara Guarischi beat Shari Bossuyt of Belgium to take second.
“If you smell the finish line, I guess you have more motivation,” said Wiebes.
Stage one winner Clara Copponi, who rides for FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, finished in sixth spot to retain the overall lead.
Wednesday’s 107.9km stage takes place in the county of Gloucestershire, starting in Tewkesbury and finishing in Gloucester.
Wiebes, who won the RideLondon Classique last month, was involved in a multi-rider accident in the final few hundred meters on the opening day in Bury St Edmunds, ending her chances of claiming both a stage win and the event’s first leader’s jersey as she finished 85th.
She has now moved up into third in the overall standings, four seconds behind France’s Copponi and one second behind the Netherlands’ Maike van der Duin in second.
Britain’s Sammie Stuart, a firefighter who was making her debut in the event with the Cams-Basso team, attacked to take the lead with 47km to go, but was caught with 20km remaining.
American Lily Williams and Gladys Verhulst of France then held a slim advantage over the peloton after a counter-attack, even as a crash split up the chasing group.
But the leading duo were passed in the final three kilometres as Wiebes took control.
General classification after stage two:
1. Clara Copponi (Fra/FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) 5hrs 59mins 06secs
2. Maike van der Duin (Ned/Le Col-Wahoo) +3secs
3. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team DSM) +4secs
4. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita/UAE Team ADQ) +7secs
5. Elena Cecchini (Ita/Team SD Worx) +8secs
6. Barbara Guarischi (Ita/Movistar) +8secs
7. Shari Bossuyt (Bel/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +10secs
8. Alison Jackson (Can/Liv Racing Xstra) +11secs
9. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita/Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) +12secs
10. Arianna Fidanza (Ita/ Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +14secs
