The Dutchwoman looked in superb form throughout the 109.6 kilometres race and she crossed the line in a time of 2 hours 55min 55sec following a thrilling sprint finish.

Van der Breggen, also a bronze medallist in the time trial at last month's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, took victory ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland and Italian Elisa Longo Borghini after the trio broke away from the chasing pack inside the last kilometre.

"It’s definitely special to become the first European champion of the history," the 26-year-old said.

"I wanted to come here for that reason although I already had a dream season but I’m very happy to add this title. 

"We had a strong team. 

"I’m delighted to finish it off and have the jersey - it’s a beautiful jersey."

Van der Breggen took charge from the early point of the race and was involved in the first breakaway, which occurred with around 50km to go.

Séverine Eraud of France, Azerbaijan's Olena Pavlukhina, Anna Stricker of Italy, Nicole Hanselman of Switzerland, Belgiums Anisha Vekemans and Emma Fahlin were also involved in the group which moved ahead of the peloton.

London 2012 Olympic road race champion Marianne Vos of The Netherlands then began to challenge her Dutch compatriot before she was unable to keep up with the leading three riders who ended up occupying the podium positions.

"Niewiadoma attacked really fast at the bottom of the final climb," Van der Breggen said

"She had already done a big effort but I knew I could recover well.

"I made my move instinctively. 

"I chose to be on the front for sprinting to victory."

Belarusian Aleksandr Riabushenko won the men's under-23 race ahead of Bjorg Lambrecht of Belgium and Italy's Andrea Vendrame.

The men's elite race is scheduled to be held tomorrow.