ANNEMIEK van Vleuten retained her La Course title as she overhauled Anna van der Breggen in a thrilling finish.

The Dutch pair were separated by just one second at the end of the 112.5km race from Annecy to Le Grand-Bornand, using much of the same route which formed stage 10 of the Tour de France later in the day.

Boels-Dolmans' Van der Breggen was the first over the top of the category one Col de la Colombiere 14 kilometres from the line, with Mitchelton-Scott's Van Vleuten setting off in pursuit seven seconds later on the long descent to the finish.

Van der Breggen still held her lead as they passed under the 'flamme rouge' one-kilometre-to-go marker, but having crested four categorised climbs she ran out of gas on the slight incline to the finish line and Van Vleuten swept by in the final 100 metres.

"This was unbelievable," Van Vleuten said. "With 200 metres to go I still thought I'd got second. Then I saw her dying. I knew I was in good shape but Anna van der Breggen is also a good cyclist. It was a tough ride but beautiful.

"I could have given up with 500 metres to go but you must believe everything is possible."

It is the second big win in the space of three days for Van Vleuten, who came here straight from taking overall victory in Italy's Giro Rosa, where she won three stages last week, including on Monte Zoncolan.

Van der Breggen had sat out the Giro hoping to be fresher here, but was left to rue getting her pacing wrong by the narrowest of margins.

The pair finished well over a minute clear of third-placed Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, whose Cervelo-Bigla team-mate Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig had done much to animate the race before finishing fourth.

La Course has reverted to a one-day format this year after Van Vleuten won 2017's experimental version which saw a mountain stage on the Col d'Izoard followed by a handicapped time trial in Marseille.