Deceuninck-Quickstep inspired by compassion for Jakobsen as Remco Evenepoel secures overall win

And in a fitting moment for Evenepoel's team Deceuninck-Quickstep, sprinter Davide Ballerini won the sprint in Sunday's final stage to end the week on a high.

The opening stage of the race saw Deceuninck rider Fabio Jakobsen involved in a horrible high-speed crash in the sprint finish, picking up injuries the left him in a coma in hospital.

Jakobsen regained conciousness on Friday, with doctors describing him as being in a relatively 'good condition', and his team-mates responded with an incredible weekend performance.

Following his sprint victory, Ballerini told reporters: "We won the stage and the GC and I think it’s the best thing we could have done, and we now support Fabio with our minds and hearts. Our doctor updated us on Fabio’s condition besides staying all day with us as well, and if I can say something to Fabio it’s please keep fighting to recovery."

The pivotal moment in the General Classification came in Saturday's stage four, with Evenepoel attacking from distance and crossing the line comfortably two minutes ahead of runner-up Jakob Fuglsang.

Simon Yates of Mitchelton-Scott and Rafał Majka of Bora-Hansgrohe came third and fourth respectively with Diego Ulissi of UAE Team Emirates following up in fifth.

But it was Evenepoel, who held aloft the number 75 as he crossed the line in tribute to teammate Fabio Jakobsen who suffered a nasty crash on stage one, who stole an impressive win to boost Deceuninck–Quick-Step's overall standings and add to his own fine parade of solo wins.

After his Stage 4 win, Evenepoel said: "I wanted to give everything today for Fabio. After stage 1, we all had some pretty tough moments, but stayed together and I think the whole world saw today just how strong this team is.

"The good news we received yesterday about Fabio acted as a big morale-boost and for that reason I wanted to do something today. That’s why in the morning, before the start, I asked for his race number and the moment I had it in my hands I immediately felt something special.

“It went okay,” said Yates reflecting on a third-place finish. “I think we were looking for an aggressive race and we did that as a team, 60km from the finish or so, just to sort of whittle down the group and really put the pressure on Ineos and Carapaz.

“I was trying to force a bit of a selection on the earlier climbs and I just had a bit of mechanical that I needed to switch bikes at a very unfortunate time when Remco went,” Yates explained. “It was a big chase, which might have affected me in the final but he was still too strong I think, and he stayed away and chapeau to him.”