The Australian crossed the finish line of the 144.7kilometres route from Wrexham to Welshpool in 3 hours 48min 34sec.

Poland’s 2017 champion Kasia Niewiadoma of Canyon-SRAM and Italian Elisa Longo Borghini of Trek–Segafredo finished second and third respectively.

"I was pretty happy," said Brown.

"I had planned before today that I wanted to be aggressive in the final.

"It’s cool when you play out your plan and it comes off.

"I guess there’s a bit of relief because this is my first win for the year and I’ve been wanting it for a little while.

"You’re more likely to stay away if you’ve got three [riders clear].

"I thought I could beat those two in a sprint, so I was quite happy about it actually. It was nice to have them in the final."

The 29-year-old is now leading Niewiadoma by four seconds in the general classification followed by Borghini in third by six seconds.

Yesterday’s winner and favourite Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM managed to finish more than a minute behind Brown as she is currently placed eighth overall.

The queen stage of the 2022 Women’s Tour is set to happen tomorrow in what could be the toughest-ever summit finish.

The penultimate stage of 106.4-km from Pembrey Country Park to the summit of the Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park will have a challenging a 7.2-kilometre climb.