no. Ulquiorra was not the strongest espada. Ya he had his segunda etapa big deal. It doesn't change the fact that the captains are on a whole other standard than ichigo. Had ulquiorra gone up against kyoraku he would have lost with mid difficulty on kyoraku's part.
My point? Stark was the strongest espada. Not ulquiorra. Ulquiorra deserves his 4th position. 3rd at best.
What is that i hear? You want proof? Here:
Ulquiorra knows he's the only one with the segunda etapa and he still states there are 3 more espada who are stronger than he is.
are you freaking kidding me?
Seriously, I just don't know where to start from to explain you how wrong you are.
First of all, Ichigo
unmasked is in a mid captain level, like Byakuya, Kenpachi, Hitsugaya, Ukitake, Shunsui and a few more, and yes, Ukitake and Shunsui are a mid level captains, these 2 clowns never showed us anything impressive, i don't care that it's been said that both of them are the most powerful shinigamis in Soul Society after Yamamoto which is pure nonsense, exactly like Uluqiorra said that there are 3 Espadas stronger than him, which is again bullsh!t, only the abilities that the characters show us tells us exactly what they are capable of.
Let me ask you something, Yammy claims to be the strogest of the Espada, does it mean it is acutally true?
-Harribel was beaten by Hitsugaya, who is a mid level captain who would have lose to masked Ichigo. Ulquiorra's unreleased powers were equal to a masked Ichigo.
Also we didn't see anything threatening from her except the Cascada which is far far behind Ulquiorra's Lanza del Relámpago, not mentioning his monstrous speed and high speed regeneration.
-Baraggan was beaten by a simple Kido, ENOUGH SAID.
What also a real opponent other than Sui Fon would rip his head off before he could touch him.
-Stark was one tough guy but at the end of the day all he was doing was shooting Ceros.
-Yammy shouldn't be an Espada at all.
And again, not everything the characters tell us is true, Ulquiorra said that because he wanted Ichigo to doubt himself, if you actually knew what you are talking about, you'd knew that Ulquiorra tends to play with his target's mind.