It is the fourth time that the Movistar rider has finished with the Maglia Rosa in her 16-year professional career.

She recorded an overall time of 24hours 26min 25sec while Frenchwoman Juliette Labous of Team DSM was her closest competitor, coming in 3:56 behind overall.

Lidl-Trek's Italian Gaia Realini finished third in the general classification 4:23 slower than van Vleuten.

Italian Chiara Consonni took the final stage win in 3:19:33 as she pipped van Vleuten's compatriot Marianne Vos of Jumbo-Visma and Australian Ally Wollaston of Soudal Quick-Step at the line.

"I'm really, really happy, I have no words," said Consonni of UAE Team ADQ.

"All the team stayed close to me for all of these ten hard days and supported me every day, so I want to say thanks to all of them.

"The sprint was really hard and stressful, as always.

"We knew that it would be super hard and not easy to interpret.

"But I trusted my teammates who brought me to the front."

Van Vleuten went into the final stage with a 3:56 advantage, and with the stage looking destined to finish in a bunch sprint.

She just had to avoid a crash to seal the title and will head into the Tour de France Femmes later this month as favourite to defend her title.

It was the second-longest stage of the race, taking athletes from Sassari to Olbia in the northeast of Sardinia.

Consonni dedicated the win to team-mate and world and European champion Marta Bastianelli who is retiring today aged 36.

"This Giro was not so good for me, I wasn't in my best condition, but now I'm really happy to end it with this beautiful win," she added.

"This is for Marta [Bastianelli], today is her last race, and I am really happy to share with her and all the girls of the team."