The first stage of the race, which is making its debut on the International Cycling Union Women’s WorldTour, had a thrilling finale as D’Hoore, riding for Wiggle High5, took on Orica Scott’s Gracie Elvin and Boels-Dolmans team member Christine Majerus.

In the end, D’Hoore was able to find the extra edge and get in front of the Australian Elvin and the rider from Luxembourg and cross the line first on the stage which travelled 105 kilometres between Halden and Mysen.

The Belgian’s winning time was 2hours 26min 39sc, with Elvin finishing second and Majerus third.

D’Hoore made her move on the long home straight, which flattened out following a gradual descent.

She started to pull away with 50 metres to go and proved too strong for Elvin and Majerus, who tried to keep track of her in the closing moments.

Thanks to her victory, D’Hoore holds a two second lead in the general classification standings with a time of 2:30:17.

Marianne Vos, the Dutch rider who won road race gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, is second overall while Elvin is a further six seconds back in third.

Tomorrow’s stage will be between Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad, with riders having to cover 140.4km.

The race concludes on Sunday (August 20).