Armitstead's final winning margin was 11 seconds over South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, courtesy of three bonus seconds picked up at the day's opening sprint, with Wiggle High5 rider Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy a further two seconds back.

The 27-year-old also clinched the best British rider jersey as the highest-placed Briton, with a 53-second advantage over London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Dani King in 11th.

The victory will move Armitstead up to second in the International Cycling Union (UCI) Women's WorldTour standings, behind her team-mate Megan Guarnier.

"We had quite a lot of pressure on us today with the team performing so well all week I couldn't let them down really so I've relieved and happy that I did it for them," said Armitstead.

A day long breakaway of seven riders contested the finish, as the Boels Dolmans-led bunch just misjudged their catch, coming into Kettering 15 seconds behind the group, which Finland's Lotta Lepistö led home in 2 hours 57 min 31sec to edge out Italians Marta Bastianelli and Elena Cecchini.

The group built an advantage in excess of four minutes, but it was driven down by a combination of Boels Dolmans at the front of the peloton and an eventual lack of cooperation in the front group.

Armitstead admitted having some nerves at one point, but took the opportunity to praise her team's performance on the 113.2 kilometre stage. 

"Probably from me, but not from the girls around me, they kept a cool head and Chantal [Blaak] said 'we can close that if we want to'," she said. 

"It was still hard, although probably one of the easier days of the tour so far which meant we could control it and bring it to a sprint which is what we wanted.

"Being a British athlete, I feel so lucky to be a part of a country that loves cycling at the moment and I hope that that bubble continues.

"My team-mates say 'Lizzie, why is it so popular here?' and I don't really know the answer, but events like this certainly help keep the ball rolling."

American Katie Hall won the Queen of the Mountains competition for best climber, while 2014 champion Marianne Vos of The Netherlands won the points jersey and 20-year-old Dutchwoman Floortje Mackaij was the best young rider.