In September, Alejandro Valverde found himself in the middle of a public debate over the apparent failure of the Spanish team to win the World Championships when the Movistar captain had failed to prevent then-teammate Rui Costa from chasing down compatriot Joaquim Rodriguez. As the only rider with five Worlds medals on his palmares, Valverde is, however, proud of his performances and still hopes to win the rainbow jersey one day.

The World Championships road race is one of a kind on the international cycling calendar and the race ranks as one of the most difficult to win. Only the strongest and smartest riders prevail in the battle for the rainbow jersey.

It is testament to Alejandro Valverde's outstanding abilities as a bike rider that he is the only rider in cycling history to have finished on the podium five times. He kicked off his string of results in his breakthrough year when he was only beaten by compatriot Igor Astarloa in 2003 in Hamilton.

Two years later he sprinted to 2nd behind Tom Boonen in the bunch sprint that ended the race in Madrid and in 2006 he was only beaten by Paolo Bettini and Erik Zabel in the sprint at the end of the race in Salzburg. After returning from suspension, he has taken two bronze medals: last year in Cauberg when he could not follow Philippe Gilbert's attack on the Cauberg and was beaten by Edvald Boasson Hagen in the sprint for 2nd and this year in the very controversial race in Florence.

In the latter race, Valverde was joined by compatriot Joaquim Rodriguez and then-teammate Rui Costa from Portugal in the quartet that would decide the race. Having allowed Rodriguez to escape on his own, Valverde failed to prevent Costa from bridging the gap on his own and Valverde found himself in the middle of a Spanish media storm when Costa beat Rodriguez in the sprint to take the coveted jersey.

Valverde dutifully sprinted to 3rd but the two medals could not make up for the public impression of a lost opportunity. Even Spain's national coach pointed fingers at Valverde.

However, Valverde has put the controversies behind and remains proud of his 5 medals that have put his name in the history books. Asked by Velonews whether he would swap all those medals for one single gold, he insists that his performance is unique.

“Well, maybe, but in the end, those five are mine. And I’m part of history,” he said. “So I don’t know, but of course, I’d like to win the worlds. That’s the ultimate goal. I hope there are still a few chances to come.”

Valverde's next chance for a gold medal will come on home soil in Ponferrada where a hilly circuit awaits the riders. While the two major climbs are not overly steep, the many ascents will accumulate fatigue in the riders' legs at the end of a very long race.

“I haven’t seen the course yet, but from what I hear there’s a lot of climbing,” he said. “This year’s route in Florence was more technical, but from what I understand, there is more climbing in the Ponferrada worlds.”

In 2014, Valverde will mainly focus on the Tour de France but the Ardennes classics, the Vuelta a Espana and his home Worlds are objectives as well.