Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes dominated the sprint finish in Colchester to win stage one of the RideLondon Classique.
The SD Worx-Protime cyclist surged to the front in the final stages and finished five seconds ahead of Italian Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) while Lidl-Trek’s Clara Copponi of France was a further two seconds back in third.
“We can be really happy with this, the race was almost perfect for us and we’re looking forward to tomorrow,” Wiebes told BBC Sport after her win in a time of 4hrs 6mins 16secs.
Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM) and Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) made a late attack with just 10km of the 159.2km stage left but the peloton closed the gap with around 5km remaining.
Wiebes, who won all three stages of the RideLondon in 2022, saw her opportunity on the home straight and charged beyond her competitors to win with a comfortable gap.
Stage two of the 146.2km race takes place on Saturday and will start and end in Maldon.
Sunday’s 91.2km final stage will start in London, finishing at The Mall in Westminster.