Great Dunmow welcomed the Women's Tour of Britain in style but it was Lorena Wiebes who showed her class in the end - winning stage two into Harlow.
The Team DSM rider simply powered away from a reduced peloton after the race had wound its way round the Essex countryside.
Wiebes, who won back-to-back stages of last year’s race, comfortably took the victory along Third Avenue after an impressively-timed lead-out by her team-mates.
Movistar's Barbara Guarischi was second with Shari Bossuyt of Canyon SRAM in third.
Wiebes said: "Today was not a really hard stage and there was quite a good speed in the bunch. We had no problems.
"At six kilometres to go there was a crash and only Franzi [Koch] and I were in the small peloton after it but luckily Megan [Jastrab] and Charlotte [Kool] came back.
“We were a bit stuck in the middle of the road before the sprint so I found my own way out a bit and in the last straight the girls found me again and we did a really nice lead out; they set me up perfectly.
"We can be super proud of ourselves and we’re looking forward to the next stages now."
Stage one winner Clara Copponi placed sixth which was enough for her to retain her overall lead but with a three-second lead over Maike Van der Duin.
Weibes is third a further second back.
Van der Duin jumped up the rankings courtesy of her a win and a second place at the intermediate sprints and the bonus seconds that came courtesy of them.
The first of them was on Chelmsford Road in Great Dunmow while the second came at High Easter.
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