The smile returned on Joaquím Rodriguez’ face as the Spanish rider repeated his win from last year and erased the bitter-sweet memories of his silver medal at last week’s World Championship race.

“It gives me an enormous feeling of satisfaction to be able to enter this race as the favourite and still manage to win it,” Rodriguez said according to Tuttobiciweb.it instantly after crossing the finish line alone. “In fact, the pleasure is double because I also finish the year as the number one ranked rider for the second consecutive year,” Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez took extra pleasure from the fact that he was able to break clear at the exact same place on the parcours as last year even though that was precisely what everybody expected.

“I rode away at the same spot as I did 12 months ago, just as all my rivals expected that I would. Victories such as this are twice as valuable. I would have loved to be able to raise my arms in triumph wearing the rainbow jersey, but I need to look ahead. I intend to use my defeat [at the Worlds] as a launching pad for further victories. If I had continued to rue my loss, I would not be celebrating today.”

Rodriguez also had time to look ahead to the 2014 season before being rushed off to the podium.

“The Giro d’Italia 2014? I’ll be there … with the intention of winning. I pledge you this much already,” Rodriguez said with a big smile on his face.