Joaquim Rodriguez desperately tried to win today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana, launching several attacks on the final climb. Having finished the stage in fourth, he openly admits that Fabio Aro and Chris Froome were stronger than him.

The first of two final climbing stages took place Thursday in the Galicia region of northern Spain for stage 18 of the 2014 Vuelta a España. Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez was active throughout the day, putting in attacks on the final climb and sprinting for the finish line, taking fourth on the day.

"The team did such a marvelous job. It’s a pity I could not finish off the job but I did everything I could.  Honestly Aru and Froome were a bit better than me today. The final podium will be hard to reach but I won’t give up and will continue fighting for that podium place and for a stage win," said team leaderJoaquim Rodriguez.

The short punchy climb was perfect for Purito and the Spanish climber wasted no time in trying to gain seconds on the general classification. The second time up the climb saw Rodriguez put in his first attack with 6 km to go, but the GC contenders of Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Chris Froome and Fabio Aru all responded in due time, forcing the Katusha rider to be patient before trying again.  Aru was next at 3,5 km to go with Rodriguez trying again just under the 3 km mark. But Froome came up the left side with a great turn of speed and the Spanish trio measured their effort before mounting a chase. It was left a little too late to make the catch with Aru taking his second Vuelta stage win by 1-second to Froome. Rodriguez sprinted to the line but just missed third place to Valverde. Teammate Daniel Moreno sprinted in for 8th place, helping to keep Katusha at the top of the Teams classification by more than 26-minutes to Movistar.

"Our goal at the start of today was to win this stage and the team did a perfect job. On the first passage of the climb we had an early attack from Losada and later attacks from Kozonchuk and Caruso to make the race hard. We were also thinking of a rider like Caruso who might be able to get a gap and win the stage. Once Aru attacked, Joaquim tried to follow but each time Valverde and Contador would come, each fighting for their own interests, of course. For us it wasn’t a good outcome, but we’re always trying to work for our goals and I’m proud of the work the team did. We will see this fighting spirit until the end," said team director José Azevedo.

While Contador lost some of his overall advantage on the classification, the Tinkoff-Saxo rider still holds the race lead  by 1.19 to Chris Froome, who moved into second place ahead of Valverde by 13-seconds. Rodriguez remains in fourth place at 2.29 and Aru rounds out the top five at 3.15. Daniel Moreno is 11th, Giampaolo Caruso is 15th.