Bennett, the Irishman who rides for Bora-Hansgrohe, timed his sprint superbly to beat home hope Elia Viviani of Quick-Step Floors in a time of 2 hours 50min 49sec.

Jean-Pierre Drucker of Luxembourg and BMC Racing Team took third place as all the leading riders were awarded the same time.

It came at the end of 115 kilometres flat stage in Rome which is traditional a procession where no serious racing takes place.

Froome consequently retained his overall lead of 46 seconds over Dutch defending champion Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb.

The Team Sky rider duly becomes the first ever British winner of the Giro and joins cycling luminaries Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault in holding all three Grand Tours at the same time after his Tour de France and Vuelta a España wins last year.

Froome remains a controversial figure, however, given how is seeking to clear his name after failing a drugs test for having double the permitted levels of asthma drug salbutamol in a sample given during the Vuelta last year.

Colombia and Astana Pro Team's Miguel Angel Lopez took third place overall, 4:57 behind Froome, after a frenetic final week of racing in which Britain's long-time leader Simon Yates and France's Thibaut Pinot each tumble down the leaderboard after failing to surive three brutal successive mountain stages.

Froome's solo burst with 80km to go on stage 19 on Friday (May 25) which propelled him from fourth to first place in the overall standings is already considered on the greatest displays in recent cycling history.

He will now target a fifth Tour de France victory later this year - as well as clearing his name of anti-doping accusations.