In the most demanding stage of the Volta a Catalunya, Rafael Valls demonstrated again that he's one of the most competitive climbers in the first part of the 2015 season.

The 4th stage of the Spanish race, 188 km from Tona to the summit finish in La Molina with three 1st category climbs and one special category climb was a battlefield for the climbers and the blue-fuchsia-green riders Valls and Tsgabu Grmay succeeded in delivering very good performances.

The Spanish rider, winner of the Tour de Oman, crossed the finish line in 10th place, 21" behind the winner van Garderen, receiving the support by the Ethiopian teammate until 4 km to go. On the contrary, Przemyslaw Niemiec had a bad day and he was dropped from the main group on the Alt de la Creueta, completing the stage with a delay of 19'15".

The performance by Valls was not enough to enter the top ten of the overall classification: he's 12th at 1'04" from leader De Clercq and 10" from the 10th place of Atapuma.

"Todayæs course was demanding and in fact there was selection in the group," Valls commented. "My main target was to succeed in managing my energies. I think I did it properly, also thanks to the support by my teammates, so I could obtain the 10th place. It is a good result, considering the quality of the winner and that Porte was 2nd and Contador 3rd.

"I missed the top ten of the overall classification, we'll evaluate day by day if it would be possible to make some attempts to achieve this goal."