Remco Evenpole (Deceuninck-Quick Step) won for the third time in 2020, holding off Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the summit of the Alto da Foia.

The 20-year-old, who is currently the overall leader as well as the leader in the Young Rider and Mountain classes, dedicated his victory to Nicolas Maes of Lotto Soudal, whose son Maurice was stillborn last week.

"For Nicolas Maes, there was bad news in the group. His son passed away and I told everyone this morning that if I won, I would dedicate that victory to him. I will also send him flowers because this victory is for him and his wife."

"I think there are more important things in life and these things are more important than my victory today. So it's a win for him and his family."

Even though Evenpoel's advantage over Shachman and Dan Martin (Israel Startup Nation), who is two seconds back in third place, was marginal, he was the driving force behind Sunday's overall win.

The Belgian opened his season with an overall win at the Vuelta a San Juan three weeks ago, and he could set his 2020 stage race record at 2-2 in his European debut.

"It was a hard week of training and hard work last week," said the Belgian.

With 400 meters to the finish, Evenpoel jumped out of an elite group of climbers that had emerged in the last kilometer. Despite a dozen men chasing him, Evenpoel quickly closed the gap, but Schachmann responded the strongest.

The German caught up to Evenpoel, but was unable to overtake the genius Evenpoel, making it a victory for Dečuninck-Quickstep after Fabio Jacobsen in the first stage.

"He set a big pace in the last 2km. I had a feeling there was something left in the last 500m."

Two more challenges await Evenepoel and his GC rivals. Stage 4 will finish on the less tough Alto de Marjan hills, and Sunday's final stage will feature a 20-km time trial around Lagoa.

Last year's World Championships time trial runner-up, Evenepoel, built his San Juan success on top of his time trial victory on stage 3.

"We'll see what happens. I have a big day on Saturday, so I have to defend the jersey there. Sunday is a big day for me and hopefully I can take the yellow jersey with me."