Van der Breggen, who also won the general classification crown in 2015, retained her 63 second advantage over Italian Elisa Longo Borghini of Wiggle High5 following today's final stage.

The Rio 2016 Olympic road race gold medallist finished safely in the chasing pack to ensure victory.

"I have to say it is a big relief," said van der Breggen.

"I am happy it’s over and I could make it up that climb also.

"I was a bit scared at the start of the race because I didn’t feel that good and of course nine days is long.

"Every day you have some pressure so I was counting and near the end of the race I was really good again."

Defending champion and van der Breggen's team-mate, Megan Guarnier of the United States, won the 10th and final stage of this year's race.

Guarnier came first in the 124 kilometres sprint stage around Torre del Greco in a time of 3 hours 9min 37sec.

A breakaway group was eventually caught ascending Mount Vesuvio on the final lap, before a group of six, including van der Breggen and Guarnier, made a push for victory.

Another Dutch rider, Annemiek van Vleuten of Orica-Scott, and van der Breggen both launched late attacks but they were shrugged off by Guarnier, who crossed the line first.

Australia's Amanda Spratt of Orica-Scott and Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma of WM3 Energie finished in second and third respectively in the final stage in the same time as Guarnier.

Despite missing out on a podium finish today, van Vleuten secured third place in the overall standings 1:39 behind van der Breggen.

Guarnier occupied fourth in the general classification, 2:57 off of her teammate.