The Soudal Quick-Step man finished the 158.5km ride from Suria to the Andorran village of Arinsal after 4hour 15min 39sec.

He pipped Jumbo-Visma's Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard to the line by a second while home favourite Juan Ayuso followed in third for UAE Team Emirates.

Almost immediately after raising his arms across the line to celebrate the win, Evenepoel was hurtling towards the barriers in the finish area.

He crashed at speed and blood could be seen streaming down his face as he was tended to by his team.

"An issue with safety for the third day in a row, now - it's a bit breaking my balls now," the 23-year-old said.

Poor weather conditions have left the routes slippery on the opening three stages and has resulted in several crashes.

Despite his frustrations at the organisers for not addressing the issue to his liking, Evenepoel was pleased with the team performance.

"It was the perfect tactics from us to just be patient, to wait," he said.

"I felt good on the final climb and then went for a long final sprint.

"I'm super happy with this victory.

"For us it would have been good if the breakaway had stayed away, but when we caught them it was important to be focused, and I knew I had a big punch left in my legs, so we decided to go for it.

"It shows that my preparation was good and that I'm ready for the next three weeks."

The result sees Evenepoel wear the red jersey for the first time in this year's race as he has a total time of 8:43:11.

Movistar Team Spaniard Enric Mas and Frenchman Lenny Martinez from Groupama-FDJ hold second and third place as they sit five and 11 seconds back, respectively.

Stage four is due to take place tomorrow with athletes travelling 183.4km from Andorra la Vella to Tarragona.