The four-day Tour of Britain Women began with an 81.5km stage in North Yorkshire between Dalby Forest and Redcar.

The riders faced two classified climbs, at Blakey Ridge and Langburn’s Bank, with Le Court starting her attack at the bottom of the latter, with Faulkner in pursuit.

Behind the lead pair the peloton split, with FDJ-Suez and Movistar leading the chase from a reduced group which was 34 seconds behind with 28km to go.

Faulkner almost crashed out of the race with 15km to go, misjudging a corner and narrowly avoiding a traffic island.

Le Court waited for her to regain momentum and the two continued with their break until the finish, before winning the sprint to take the leader’s jersey.

Friday’s second stage is over a 114.3km route between Hartlepool and Saltburn-by-the-sea.