It is Faulkner's first stage win on the International Cycling Union (UCI) Women's WorldTour, and came after a bold showing on the 141.5-kilometre route from Halden to Sarpsborg.

The American was a part of a five-rider breakaway, along with Drops-Le Col's Anna Christian from the Isle of Man, Dutch riders Natalie van Gogh of Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire and Nana Buysman of Parkhotel Valkenburg plus home athlete Tiril Jørgensen, who is in Team Norway colours for the four-stage race.

The five-rider breakaway put in excess of three minutes between themselves and the peloton at one stage, but began to be reeled back in.

With 22km remaining, Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank's Faulkner hit the front and escaped into a solo lead.

Three 6.7km laps around Sarpsborg finished the route, and Faulkner had just enough in the tank to hold off the peloton and cross the line first - having started the last lap with a 25-second advantage.

A time of 3 hr 38min 5sec was given to the winner and the peloton, leaving Faulkner with a four-second lead in the general classification thanks to time bonuses, as she narrowly held off Norwegian Susanne Andersen from Team DSM, who won a sprint finish from within the peloton but was agonisingly short of catching Faulkner.

Britain's Alice Barnes of Canyon-SRAM was third, so is six seconds down on Faulkner.

The rest of the peloton, including Olympic time trial champion Annemiek van Vleuten - the Dutch Movistar luminary who leads this season's UCI Women's WorldTour standings - are 10 seconds back.

A 145km ride from Askim to Mysen is in store tomorrow.