Alejandro Valverde has come under heavy criticism for his failure to follow Rui Costa as the Portuguese bridged the gap to Valverde’s compatriot Joaquím Rodriguez in the closing stages of Sunday’s race for the World Championship.

If Valverde had hung on to the wheel of his Movistar Team-mate, Spain would have been left with two riders against the lone Portuguese in the final kilometre of the race. As it were, Costa edged out Rodriguez for the rainbow jersey while Valverde effortlessly defeated an exhausted Vincenzo Nibali in the sprint for bronze.

Subsequently, Spain’s national coach Javier Minguez has severely criticised Alejandro Valverde’s failure to monitor Rui Costa.

“Rodriguez’ performance deserved a gold medal,” said Minguez according to Spanish media, “and losing the gold in this way annoys me, although I’m pleased we got silver and bronze.”

Minguez said that Valverde would have won the race if he had glued himself to the wheel of Costa.

“Joaquím raced fantastically well, but Valverde made a serious mistake. If Rui Costa goes for Purito, he has to go after him. If he had done that, he [Valverde] would be in the rainbow jersey now. He should have chased down anything that moved - even the television motorbike.”

“Okay, two medals are a cause for a fiesta. But thanks to his error, we’re not World Champions.”

In the meantime Valverde has justified his lack of response to Costa’s move, saying he didn’t have the legs to pursue his Movistar team-mate.

"Satisfaction is to do things the way you think you have to do them," Valverde wrote on Twitter according to Spanish sports daily Marca.

Alejandro Valverde responded to the criticism that has been hurled at him for his performance in the race on Sunday by saying "it's a personal satisfaction to do things the way you think you have to do them, and not to do them just to see your name on a [winners’] list."

With three silver medals and two bronze medals to his name, Valverde has now won more medals than any other rider in cycling history in elite men’s road-racing yet, significantly, none of them are gold. That doesn’t seem to discourage Valverde, though

"Another medal! However, there is still the gold [to be won] so I'll try again next year," Valverde stated on his Twitter.