The world's best women's cyclists made the most of poor weather and tricky conditions as they raced through the Shotley peninsula after setting off from Colchester this morning.

Luxembourg rider Christine Majerus won the Queen of the Mountain title after finishing first up the Brantham Hill in front of an appreciative and knowledgable crowd,

Winner of Queen of Mountain at Barntham (Picture credit:Alastair McCraw)

Womens tour heading to the Strand to go under Orwell Bridge (Picture credit: Shotley peninsula Nub News)

The 97 women then raced down through Stutton before a timed sprint in front of the Royal Hospital School in Holbrook.

Dutch racer Maike Van Derek van Duin, from team La Col Wahoo took maximum points as she whizzed past the post before heading to Freston, down the hill along the Strand and then back along the A137 to Tattingstone.

Frenchwoman Clara Copponi claimed the first victory of her road racing career as she sprinted to win the opening stage of the Women's Tour in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

The FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope rider pipped Italian duo Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) and Elena Cecchini (Team SD Worx) to the line in a reduced bunch sprint after a final-kilometre crash removed pre-stage favourite Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) out of contention.

Copponi, a reigning world champion on the track, claimed the first yellow leader's jersey of this year's race as a result of her victory. Having finished third overall in last year's Women's Tour, she also leads the Breast Cancer Now going into stage two.

Hundreds of people lined the route which was well policed and marshalled so disruption on the roads was kept to a minimum.