Nicole's first Tour of Flanders started brightly but finished in frustration.

Following the opening section of pavé the first climb of the day found Nicole and two other riders off the front after 30k.

A lead of up to a minute was built up between Nicole and Dutch rider Loes Gunnewijk with the third rider unable to keep up with the pace.

The breakaway was back up to three when Amber Neben of the Dutch Buitenpoort-Flexpoint Team joined the group, but the lead was gradually whittled down. After 45k in front Nicole was eventually hauled back and she sat in the main group.

The decisive breakaway came before the final climb with the Buitenpoort-Flexpoint Team clearly motivated for a good result near home turf. Mirjam Melchers got away and she was then joined by team mate Susanne Ljunskog.

They time trialled to the finish with the Dutch rider Melchers taking the sprint ahead of the Swedish former World Champion.

Behind those two the final climb had split up the remainder of the field and Nicole was amongst a select group around 30 seconds down on the leaders trying to close the gap.

The chasers also included Nicole's team mate Anna Zugno and many of the World Cup contenders, amongst them overall series leader Oenone Wood.

None received points from this round of the competition. Inside the final few hundered metres they mistakenly followed the car deviation just before the correct corner on the course and eventually crossed the line the wrong way!

All were unclassified.

"It's obviously a bit disappointing," said Nicole afterwards, "but the rules say it's up to the riders to know the course."

"When I got away it was early in the race and I could have sat up, but I decided to give it a go. "

"Obviously if I'd sat in the bunch all day I would have had stronger legs for the finish, and things might have been different, but it was interesting to try another way of racing."

"It was also fantastic to be in the lead for so long in such a prestigious race, especially since there were so many British fans on the course, and their support was fantastic."