Wout Poels climbed to 13th place on the queen stage of the Tour of Oman after Rafael Valls had wrapped up a surprise victory on Green Mountain.

Poels was well protected on a hot and blustery approach to the now infamous ascent, and battled hard to cross the line just 1min 27sec down on the day’s winner.

Valls had ridden himself into contention alongside Tejay van Garderen, Alejandro Valverde and Rafal Majka after the peloton had whittled down dramatically in the last eight kilometres, and then produced a stinging late attack to claim his first triumph in over five years.

The Lampre-Merida rider crossed the line with a four-second advantage over the plucky Van Garderen (BMC Racing), and that result saw him open up a nine-second cushion at the top of the overall standings.

Poels’s performance meanwhile, saw him rise to 15th on the general classification, 2min 23 sec off the pace.

On the drive back to the team hotel, Sports Director Nicolas Portal was pleased with the effort his riders had shown and predicted another interesting stage on Saturday.

He told TeamSky.com: “Everyone rode well today. Christian, Nathan, CJ and Danny did a really job job keeping Wout and Leo well positioned, and they made sure everyone stayed properly hydrated in the heat.

“Leo struggled a bit on that last climb but Wout managed to hold his own for as long as he could when riders were being dropped all around him. He didn’t go into the red and was able to maintain a steady, consistent effort all the way to the summit.

“Obviously it would have been great if he and Leo finished higher, but it’s still early in the season and their form is improving every day.

“We’ll try again to do something tomorrow, but we’re not expecting big changes on the GC. That’s the stage where Chris Froome outsprinted Alberto Contador a few years ago – so we know it well – and it should be another exciting day of racing.”