"Zeits, Landa, Vanotti, Rosa, Cataldo, Sanchez - without them there would be no red jersey this year. I thank my teammates and I thank our sponsor Samruk-Kazyna. We began this year with enormous headwinds, and for all of our struggles and all of our setbacks we come to Madrid today and stand on the top step of the final podium to keep a promise we made to ourselves at the beginning of the season: to win a Grand Tour."

Those were the words of Astana's Fabio Aru who won the 2015 Vuelta a España after stage twenty one on Sunday. Aru, 25, finished 2nd in the Giro d'Italia in May and was 5th in the 2014 Vuelta. In three full seasons as a professional he has won five Grand Tour stages.

"I feel very happy," he added. "I dedicate this victory to the people close to me who helped me win, to all the people who follow me, my family, my girlfriend and all my fans. This motivates me to do better, to train, to live like an athlete, because to reach these results you have to make sacrifices. It motivates me to always do better because in this sport you always have to work.

"Dumoulin has shown in this Vuelta what a great champion he is. There are others like Pinot, he is also from 1990. It is a great generation. It is an incredible. I hardly found the words on the podium because I was so excited.

"Today a dream came true, a dream I’ve had since I was a child. I’m very emotional, very proud. I have to thank my teammates, they always believed in me and I dedicate this win to them and to my family.

“Yesterday's stage was the most emotional one for me because we did an amazing job as a team and we showed that we were really united. It’s been a very hard Vuelta, but I’m sure the public have liked it. It’s been spectacular.

“I am very proud to be here. It’s been a very beautiful race. Congratulations to Purito and Rafal, who have shown they are two of the strongest riders in the world. And I hope to see you all again soon.”

"I’m very happy," Landa said. "I’m satisfied with my job. We won with Aru. It seemed that with just two days remaining, we had lost La Vuelta but we did not give up, we tried and thanks to all the team we were able to claim that victory. It will be a day to remember for all of us. I'm very happy and very proud.”