A determined ride from Valentino Rossi proved in vain as Movistar Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo won the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix to claim his third MotoGP world title.

Rossi led the championship by seven points heading into the final race of the campaign, but faced the significant handicap of starting from the back of the grid after being penalised for contact with Marc Marquez in Sepang last time out.

The controversy surrounding Rossi's clash with Marquez - as well as the subsequent sanction handed out to the Italian and his failed appeal - dominated the build-up to Sunday's race in Spain.

Rossi did his best to render his punishment irrelevant, surging through the field in the first half of the race to move up to fourth position.

Yet it was not enough for Rossi as Lorenzo held off fellow Spaniards Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa (both Repsol Honda) to take victory and finish five points clear at the top of the standings.

A tense finale saw the third-placed Pedrosa rapidly close in on Lorenzo and outgoing back-to-back world champion Marquez, with the leading trio separated by less than a second over the closing laps.

However, Lorenzo was not to be denied as he followed up previous MotoGP title successes in 2010 and 2012.