Rafael Valls

Rafael Valls Ferri (born 25 June 1987) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for seven different teams. Valls took four victories during his professional career – a stage at the 2010 Tour de San Luis, a stage and the general classification at the 2015 Tour of Oman, and a win in the 2019 Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia one-day race.

Rafael Valls

Valls at the 2015 Tour de France.
Personal information
Full name	Rafael Valls Ferri
Born	(1987-06-25) 25 June 1987 (age 38) Cocentaina, Spain
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Team information
Current team	Team Jayco–AlUla
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired) Directeur sportif
Rider type	Climber
Amateur teams
2007	Relax–GAM (stagiaire)
2008	Scott–American Beef (stagiaire)
Professional teams
2009	Burgos Monumental–Castilla y León
2010–2011	Footon–Servetto–Fuji
2012–2013	Vacansoleil–DCM[1]
2014–2015	Lampre–Merida
2016–2017	Lotto–Soudal
2018–2019	Movistar Team[2][3]
2020–2021	Bahrain–McLaren[4][5]
Managerial team
2023–	Team Jayco–AlUla
Major wins
Stage races Tour of Oman (2015)

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Valls and the second or maternal family name is Ferri.

Following his retirement, Valls now works as a directeur sportif for UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla.^[6]

Career

Born in Cocentaina, Valls left Vacansoleil–DCM at the end of the 2013 season, and joined Lampre–Merida for the 2014 season.^[7] In 2015, Valls had his biggest victory to that point by winning the Tour of Oman and its fourth stage.^[8] In September 2015 it was announced that Valls would join Lotto–Soudal from 2016 on a two-year deal.^[9] In August 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Tour de France.^[10] However, he crashed on the opening stage, and abandoned the race.^[11]

At the end of the following year, Valls retired from the sport, despite holding a contract until the end of the 2022 season.^[12]

Major results

Source:^[13]

2005

3rd Time trial, National Junior Road Championships

2008

9th Overall Grand Prix du Portugal

2009

4th Overall Circuito Montañés

10th Overall Tour de l'Avenir

2010

2nd Trofeo Inca

3rd Overall Tour de San Luis

1st Mountains classification

1st Stage 2

9th Trofeo Deia

2014

8th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

2015

1st Overall Tour of Oman

1st Stage 4

8th Overall Paris–Nice

8th Overall Volta a Catalunya

2016

8th Overall Tour Down Under

2017

7th Overall Tour Down Under

10th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné

2019

1st Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia

2020

9th Overall Route d'Occitanie

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Giro d'Italia	—	DNF	—	29	—	—	—	—	DNF	—	—	96
Tour de France	53	—	41	—	DNF	78	—	—	—	—	DNF	—
Vuelta a España	—	—	DNF	43	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Legend

—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish