Anna Henderson excels at breakaways.

In the Jumbo Visma, her role is often to soften the ground before the final for Marianne Vos or to follow the attacks of other teams, but Henderson also actively enjoys racing when she is the team leader.

The 23-year-old Briton was the only one to break away from the peloton on the first stage of the RideLondon Classic.

"I wanted to race aggressive today. After I attacked, the peloton didn't pick up the pace, so I went full throttle. I felt pretty strong and kept going on the climbs. Unfortunately, the race dragged on a little too long and ended in a sprint. This start gave me a lot of confidence and I'm really looking forward to the future," Henderson said after the stage.

Henderson attacked on the first lap of the two-lap, 21.8-km finishing circuit, and by the time he passed the mountain sprint on Spring Elms Lane, he had quickly increased his gap to 1 minute 40 seconds. With one lap to go, he still held a 1:20 lead, and the winding English country roads played right into Henderson's hands.

"The Belgian roads are straight, the Dutch roads are straight. It's nice to come to England and hear the British fans," Henderson told BBC Essex.

Still, the sprinters' team was determined not to let the opportunity pass them by, and they chased hard in the final laps. Henderson's advantage was reduced to 24 seconds at 3km, but it was the climb up Market Hill that ultimately sealed her fate: after riding alone for 40km, Henderson was unable to pull away from the rest of the field on the steep climb and ultimately finished 28th.

"It was a great day. The final was an ideal scenario for Anna because of the narrow roads. She could have relied on Colin Labecki in the sprint, but she didn't have those legs today," said Lieselo Decroix, Jumbo Visma's sport director, who was pleased with the team's performance.

Henderson's performance earned her the orange and blue mountains jersey. Stage 2 offers three more mountain sprints, where she can defend her lead and secure the mountains jersey for Sunday's London stage, a completely flat stage. However, she reiterated that stage wins are the team's main goal.

"We did everything we could to win the stage. We are here for the stage win and we want to be competitive. 'I wish we could have been 200 meters closer to the finish line. But it was a really good run and a fun day.