Alejandro Valverde of Spain, twice runner-up in the road race at the UCI Road World Championships and four times the bronze medallist, has finally won the rainbow jersey at the age of 38 after a thrilling race in Innsbruck-Tirol.

He had been one of three riders who began the descent to Innsbruck from the day’s final – and, as expected, decisive – climb together, the others being Romain Bardet of France, who finished second, and Michael Woods who took a surprise bronze for Canada.

Just 1.5 kilometres from the finish they were joined by Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands who managed to make the junction despite apparently having a problem with his rear brake, the Dutchman just missing out on a medal.

Of the quartet vying for the rainbow jersey, Valverde possessed the strongest kick, and the emotion after he crossed the line afrer finally clinching it was evident.

The first British rider home was Peter Kennaugh, who finished 1 minute 21 seconds behind the riders contesting the medals, and who had animated the race with an attack on the penultimate climb ahead of a larger-than-expected group hitting the bottom of the critical final ascent together.

As usual in a world championships, an early break was given plenty of leeway, with 11 riders – including Ireland’s Connor Dunne and Ryan Mullen – gaining an advantage of more than a quarter of an hour.

That margin was slashed however as the race went onto the closing seven circuits of the race, six of them 23.9 kilometres long and including a 7.3-kilometre climb.

Great Britain, working for Vuelta champion Simon Yates and his twin brother Adam, did much of the work in bringing the break’s advantage down, with Ian Stannard, Connor Swift and Tao Geoghegan Hart all doing big turns at the front of the bunch.

Well ahead of the closing 30.9-kilometre climb, which included the much-anticipated short-but-sharp final climb to Höttinger Höll, Simon Yates’s challenge was over, with defending champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia also having abandoned after being dropped with 92 kilometres remaining.

The final two escapees were swept up on the penultimate climb, and it was Italy who now came to the front, looking to launch Gianni Moscon, in strong form ahead despite only returning to racing within the past fortnight after a five-week ban.

After Kennaugh’s surprise attack, Michael Valgren of Denmark responded and distanced the Manxman, with the field split behind before France organised a chase.

Valgren had a 30-second advantage heading onto the crucial last ascent, but dropped out of contention as Valverde, Bardet, Woods and Moscon came past him, the latter fading with 10 kilometres left as the road briefly flattened out.

With a technical descent following, those three were set to contest the win, although the late charge by Dumoulin – who had been zig-zagging across the road on that tough final climb, but dug in deep to get back across – put him back into the frame although the Dutchman would finish out of the medals.

Valverde becomes just the third Spaniard, after Abraham Olano, Igor Astarloa and three-time winner Oscar Freire – to win the rainbow jersey, and is also the second-oldest to do so after 1985 champion Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands.