The race started at 12:00
British Summer Time (
UTC+01:00). The weather was cool and it was very rainy. At both the start and finish of the race it was pouring down with rain. After an unsuccessful attack from
Janildes Silva Fernandes,
Ellen van Dijk attacked after around 35 kilometres. A couple of other riders joined Van Dijk in her escape but the efforts were not successful, as the escapees were caught by the group. A few minutes later,
Ellen van Dijk attacked again in an attempt to splinter the peloton but was soon reeled in again. After two short bursts from Ellen van Dijk and one from
Loes Gunnewijk, the American
Kristin Armstrong attacked on the climb of
Box Hill, followed by Great Britain's
Emma Pooley. When the bunch was back together, race favourite
Marianne Vos attacked but was immediately followed by America's
Shelley Olds and the bunch. After other attacks from Ellen van Dijk,
Judith Arndt,
Emma Pooley and Ellen van Dijk respectively, the bunch contained about 35 riders with 50 kilometers to go. At the beginning of the second of the two rounds of Box Hill, Marianne Vos attacked the bunch, joined by
Lizzie Armitstead and the Belarus rider
Alena Amialiusik but were unable to get away. After the descent of Box Hill there was a clear escape of Marianne Vos, Olga Zabelinskya, Lizzie Armitstead and Shelley Olds, who quickly made a gap of half a minute between themselves and the chasing posse. After a puncture of
Shelley Olds the three remaining riders increased the distance between them and their pursuers to 48 seconds with 10 kilometres to go. After Zabelinskaya tried unsuccessful to escape with 2 kilometres to go, it was Vos who sprinted for the finish with about 200 metres to go. Armitstead tried to get after her but failed to do so and was beaten by a bike-length. ==Final classification==