Wiebes, who won back-to-back stages in last year's race comfortably took the victory in Essex after a perfectly timed lead-out by her team-mates allowing her to finish the 92.1-kilometres course in 2hr 19min 5sec.

In the fight for second, Italy's Barbara Guarischi pipped Belgian rider Shari Bossuyt to the line.

Stage one winner Clara Copponi of France placed sixth and retains her overall lead in the general classification while Dutchwoman Maike van der Duin moved up to second overall with three seconds separating the two.

"Today was not a really hard stage and there was quite a good speed in the bunch," said Team DSM's Wiebes, who moved up to third in the general classification.

"We had no problems today, we were good together in the front at the intermediate sprints and over the queen of the mountain segments.

"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.

"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 three is set to take place tomorrow in Gloucestershire with riders covering 107.9km despite the start and finish separated by just over 10 miles.

Cyclists will head west into the Forest of Dean upon leaving the start before finishing in the heart of the cathedral city by Gloucester Docks.