Luis Leon Sanchez secured himself the win in the mountains competition in today's big mountain stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The victory came as a huge surprise for the Spaniard who had gone into the race with a focus on stage wins.

With no climbs in the final time trial, Luis Leon Sanchez will step onto the podium tomorrow to receive the mountains jersey in the Vuelta a Espana. The Spaniard will crown an aggressive performance with his first ever jersey in a grand tour.

"I never imagined that I would be the best climber in a Grand Tour," he said. "It is even better that it happens in the Vuelta. It makes me very happy, especially for the team Caja Rural and for my teammates. We changed our goal along the way, the polka dot jersey in place of stage wins, and we did it.

"Niemiec who was in the break, was a danger to the jersey and we started to chase but the Lampre car told us he would not take the points at the top of the climb."

"We had a bad day with mechanicals and we failed to make it into the break which forced us to chase," team principal Jaime Garzon said. "In the end we were able to keep the mountains jersey but we were frustrated to end the race on a quiet note.

"The Vuelta is very positive for the team, we've shown ourselves and everyone has been excited. We have given value to the jersey in a grand tour but we always want more, and that's good. You can always ask for more but the victories are shared by very few teams and it is very difficult to be in that select group. We took the mountains jersey and are also in contention for the combaitivity prize."