Joaquim Rodriguez was left hugely disappointed at the world championships when he was reeled in and beaten in the sprint by Rui Costa inside the final few kilometres of the race. The Spaniard admits that the near-miss is hard to digest and has now set his sights on a repeat win the Tour of Lombardy and the WorldTour rankings.

Many riders were disappointed by their results at the world championships but Joaquim Rodriguez was probably the one who suffered the most. The Katusha captain had been agonizingly close to winning the Worlds title but had to settle for 2nd when eventual winner Rui Costa bridged across to the lone Spaniard inside the final few kilometres and subsequently took an easy sprint win.

Since then, there has been much polemics over the role of fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde who was unable to respond to Costa's acceleration and thus allowed the Portuguese to get across. Had Valverde stayed in Costa' wheel, the Portuguese would either have slowed down or Valverde would have taken a sprint win, the Movistar captain being the fastest rider in the front quartet that decided the race.

At the post-race press conference, Rodriguez declared that his silver medal had no value at all. In an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca, he admits that he still hasn't swallowed the bitter pill of missing out on the world championships title.

“To have the world title so close and not win it, you don’t forget that,” he said “I had the legs to win and I looked for victory, but we didn’t win even though Alejandro and I were the strongest.”

“I’m reading things in social networks that aren’t real,” he added. “With three kilometres to go, it was he [Valverde] who said ‘Attack, and I’ll leave a gap.’ He said it clearly, and thanks to him, the group split and I was in front. I played my hand, knowing that if they caught me, Valverde would win the sprint because he only had to watch Rui Costa, since I had tired Nibali [by making him chase]."

"We had it in our hands. Either I won or he did. We were the strongest and it depended on us."

Rodriguez refused to be drawn into any internal rivalry with his former teammate Valverde.

“After the Worlds, that night we said what we had to say. Every one of us has his own point of view.”

Last year Rodriguez capped his season by taking the biggest win of his career in the final monument, Il Lombardia. This year he will be back to defend his title and make amends for the rainbow loss.

However, there is even more at stake for the Spaniard. Rodriguez has won the UCI WorldTour in 2010 and 2012 and is currently 2nd, 80 points behind leader Chris Froome. Rodriguez hopes to defend his title but knows that it will be difficult. Froome will also be racing in Lombardy which offers 100 points to the winner and 80 points to the runner-up.

“It will be very complicated because Froome still has 80 points of an advantage. To win, I’d have to finish first or second and he would have to score no points,” Rodriguez said. “In any case, even if I don’t win the WorldTour, it wouldn’t be bad to finish the year by winning in Lombardy. After everything that’s happened, I’d like to finish with a good taste in my mouth.”

Should Rodriguez get close to the lead in the rankings, he may even extend his race schedule to include the final WorldTour race of the season, the Tour of Beijing.

“Yes, I’m not excluding it because winning the WorldTour is very important for me," he said.

On Sunday, you can follow Il Lombardia on CyclingQuotes.com/live.