Alejandro Valverde brought his season to a close with another splendid performance in yesterday's Il Lombardia where he finished 2nd. The Spaniard had no regrets and openly admitted that winner Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was simply the strongest rider in the race.

Alejandro Valverde has been a protagonist in most of the major races in the 2013 season and so it was a fitting end to a splendid year for the Spaniard when he once again battled for the victory in the final monument, yesterday's Il Lombardia. The Spaniard made another great performance and finished 2nd behind the invincible Joaquim Rodriguez.

Valverde stayed near the front on the steep Villa Vergano with 10km to go but was unable to follow Rodriguez when the Katusha rider launched his decisive attack. Valverde joined forces with Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) to form a chase trio before leaving his companions behind on the descent to the finish.

Valverde has had several podium places this season but only few wins. Nonetheless, he was satisfied with the result against a superior competitor.

"Purito deserved to win," he said on the post-race press conference. "First and second: I think he's happy. I'm happy too."

"I didn’t have a bad moment. There was someone who was stronger than me today. I'm happy with how I raced today and with my season. Purito won it last year and knows the route really well. He knew when to make his move. Thanks to this win he's won the WorldTour so and doesn't need to go to China…"

During the week leading up to Il Lombardia, Valverde's role in the world championships road race had been heavily debated. At a time when his compatriot Rodriguez was alone up the road, Valverde failed to mark eventual winner Rui Costa who bridged across to the lone Katusha rider and beat him in the sprint.

Valverde refused that there was any bad feeling between two of the greatest Spanish riders.

"There was a lot of polemics on the outside, by the public, but inside between us, we both know we're riders and that things happen in an instant in a race and that after 270km, racing is very hard," he said. "If I'd chased down Costa, perhaps we'd have won the world title but my legs weren’t good. Things happen quickly in races. Purito knows that too."

Valverde has had a good season with several top results. He finished 2nd in Amstel Gold Race, 3rd in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 8th in the Tour de France, 2nd in Clasica San Sebastian, 3rd in the Vuelta a Espana and 3rd in the world championships. He may only have won 4 races - all back in February - but he claims to be satisfied with a season that was marked by great consistency.

"The season is over and I'm happy," he said. "I was on the podium in almost every big race except for the Tour de France, where if what happened, hadn't happened, I could have perhaps been on the podium."

Valverde has always focused his attention on the Tour and the Vuelta and has never raced the Giro. With teammate Nairo Quintana being a likely Tour captain next year, the Spaniard suggests that a participation in the Italian grand tour may be in store.

"The Giro's a good race and I've heard that the route might suit me," he said. "I'd like to ride it one year but let's see what the route looks like first."

Valverde will stay in Italy for today's presentation of the 2014 route for the three-week race.