Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes made it back-to-back wins with victory on stage three of the Women’s Tour.
Wiebes followed up her dominant display on Tuesday by beating Australia’s Alex Manly and America’s Coryn Labecki across the line in Gloucester.
The 23-year-old missed out on the opening day after a multi-rider crash on the final corner.
She replaces Clara Copponi, who failed to finish with the first peloton, at the top of the overall standings.
“Today was a hard stage, with attacks from the beginning of the race,” Wiebes said.
“We will go all-in tomorrow to try and make it three.”
The Team DSM rider was dropped by the peloton on an uncategorised climb with 20km remaining but rejoined the leaders with 9km to go.
Wiebes, who won the RideLondon Classique last month, was involved in a crash in the final few hundred metres on Monday 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 now sits 13 seconds ahead of Italy’s Sofia Bertizzolo in second and Manly in third in the general classification.
Le Col-Wahoo’s Lizzie Holden was the top British rider on stage three, finishing 16th, 20 seconds behind the leader.
Stage four’s 144.7km route takes place in Wales on Thursday, starting at Wrexham and finishing in Welshpool.
Stage three result:
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team DSM) 2 hours 51 minutes 27 seconds
2. Alex Manly (Aus/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +0 secs
3. Coryn Labecki (US/Team Jumbo-Visma) +0 secs
4. Shari Bossuyt (Bel/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +0 secs
5. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +0 secs
6. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita/Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) +0 secs
7. Eugenie Duval (Fra/FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) +0 secs
8. Tereza Neumanova (Cze/Liv Racing Xstra) +0 secs
9. Ingvild Gaskjenn (Nor/Team Coop-Hitec Products) +0 secs
10. Letizia Borghesi (Ita/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +0 secs
General classification after stage three:
1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team DSM) 8 hours 50 minutes 27 seconds
2. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita/UAE Team ADQ) +13 secs
3. Alex Manly (Aus/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +13 secs
4. Elena Cecchini (Ita/Team SD Worx) +14 secs
5. Shari Bossuyt (Bel/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +16 secs
6. Coryn Labecki (US/Team Jumbo-Visma) +16 secs
7. Elise Chabbey (Swi/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +17 secs
8. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita/Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) +18 secs
9. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SA/Team SD Worx) +18 secs
10. Christine Majerus (Lux/Team SD Worx) +18 secs
