The 22-year-old Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider became the first Belgian to win a Grand Tour in 44 years as he safely came through the 97-kilometre stage 21 in Madrid.

In the general classification, Evenepoel finished two minutes and five seconds clear of Spain's Enric Mas who moved into the silver medal position after Slovenia's defending champion Primož Roglič withdrew following a crash on the 16^th stage.

Spaniard Juan Ayuso was a further three minutes and three seconds away from his compatriot as he made up the top three overall.

"I don't know what's going through my head and my body right now," said Evenepoel, who won in what is only his second Grand Tour appearance.

"It's amazing.

"It really sinks in now.

"Yesterday the emotions were quite high, but you still have to finish the race.

"It's history for the team, for my country and for myself.

"I think we can be really proud for what we have done over these last three weeks."

The result means Evenepoel is the first Belgian to win a Grand Tour since Johan de Muynck took the Giro d'Italia title in 1978.

He was some way away from being considered a favourite prior to the event as he had suffered a broken pelvis in a crash at the 2020 Il Lombardia and then crashed out of his first Grand Tour - last year's Giro d'Italia - on his return to cycling.

Denmark's Mads Pedersen won the green jersey by 223 points, with Britain's Fred Wright second in the points classification while Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz of Team Ineos Grenadiers won the polka dot jersey as the king of the mountains.