Omar Fraile has taken the lead of the King of the Mountain classification at the Vuelta a Espana.

Fraile, who debuts in the Vuelta, wears the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team jersey for the third consecutive year. This season, he kicked off his victory tally with wins in the Giro dell’Appennino and in the 4 days of Dunkirk.

The Basque Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rider was one of the stage’s main players, being present in the day’s escape that took place at the 13th kilometre.

Carlos Barbero was the first member of the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team to cross the finish line, arriving in 14th place.

Omar Fraile was clearly pleased after making it onto the podium:

“The escape happened early, which caught me by surprise, but I was able to make it by taking off from behind. We managed to keep advancing, although the peloton did not allow us to  make any time.

"Everyone fought for the King of the Mountain classification, I had to fight harder, and was able to win the first climb. Then, 3 km before the 1st category climb, we took it as though it was the finish line and I was able to win.

"The truth is that I felt strong and had a good feeling and that’s important. For the moment there aren’t a lot of mountains ahead so I’ll be able to enjoy the jersey for a few days. I’ll be able to recover my strength after today and that’s going to be important.

"It is a good choice to take the jersey for at least a few days. Looking ahead to the next stages we will see if we can keep it or not.

"I already said that I wanted to have a strong presence in this race and, right now, it’s unbeatable. I’m feeling really well, but let’s see how my body reacts in my first big tour, for the time being I’ve made it onto the podium and no one can take that away from us.

"To stand on it is impressive, both Pais Vasco and this one are, for me, the most beautiful races and to be able to stand on the podium on both occasions is a wonderful thing, it really makes all the work worthwhile”.