Lorena Wiebes, right, followed up her victory in the Three Days of Bruges-De Panne by winning the first stage of the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta ©Getty Images

Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes won the first stage of the three-day Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta with a powerful uphill finish in Escalona.

It was a fine start for Wiebes of Sunweb in what is the final International Cycling Union (UCI) Women’s WorldTour race of the season.

The race was briefly halted after riders were sent the wrong way, but Wiebes maintained her focus to win the stage.

The 21-year-old finished in 2 hours 0min 16sec, beating Italian Elisa Balsamo of Valcar-Travel and Service and German Lisa Brennauer of Ceratizit-WNT to the line.

Wiebes’ success in Spain follows her victory in the Three Days of Bruges-De Panne in Belgium last month.

"It was a really fast start, we had tailwind and then we hit more crosswinds," Wiebes said.

"It was a lot of speed today and it was a nice day on the bike with some hard moments, specially this really hard finish.

"I was not in the perfect position into the last corner but the team did an amazing job to be there."

For the first time, the competition has been split into three stages, starting with the 82.8-kilometre peloton race from Toledo to Escalona.

Tomorrow is set to see riders will tackle a 9.3km individual time trial in Boadilla del Monte before Sunday’s 98.6km final stage.