Lizzie Armitstead opened her account for 2012 with a win in Omloop van het Hageland, Tielt-Winge in Belgium on Sunday.
The British AA Drink-leontien.nl rider took the honours in the 123.6km, UCI 1.2-ranked race ahead of French woman Pauline Farrand-Prevot and Italian Elisa Longo Borghini in third.
The trio had escaped from the bunch earlier in the race, with Armitstead out-pacing her companions in the finale to win over Farrand-Prevot by four seconds.
Kirsten Wild, also of AA Drink, brought home the bunch for fourth place at 43 seconds. Briton Lucy Martin finished in ninth spot.
Armitstead’s win makes up for the ‘disappointment’ of coming 10th in the previous weekend’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad behind GreenEdge’s Loes Gunnewijk.
Yorkshirewoman Armitstead is aiming for glory in the Olympic Games women’s road race on July 29.
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