Luis Angel Mate continued the good vein of form he had shown in the Vuelta a Andalucia when he finished 4th in today's Vuelta a Murcia. However, he admitted that nothing could be done against a superior Alejandro Valverde.

Cofidis lined up in today's Vuelta a Murcia with plenty of ambitions as two of the team's climbers, Luis Angel Mate and defending champion Daniel Navarro, had both shown great condition in the recent Vuelta a Murcia. The team got close to podium finish when the in-form Mate took fourth in the race that was won by Alejandro Valverde.

The team had played an active role throughout the entire race, most notably when Jerome Coppel was in a two-rider escape with Valverde inside the final kilometre. However, there was little to be done against Valverde and the Spaniard admitted that the race winner had been superior.

"We can't regret anything," he said. "The whole team performed well. The others have won because they were better and we can only congratulate Valverde because no one could follow him when he accelerated.

"I felt fine and this result confirms the trend started in the Vuelta a Andaucia.

"We wanted to be represented in the break and we were with Hardy. Then our intention was to attack from th peloton and Jerome Coppel did so when he went away on the Collado Bermejo climb. However, Valverde responded and caught him on the descent. Bot it was good for us because we had a rider in the front.

"[Valverde's attack] was impossible to follow. I was well-positioned and Dani Navarro led me out. I attacked on my own and started to gain ground but it was too late. I missed a little to reach the podium.

"We did what we had to do and we tried to win. When you lose like that, there is nothing to critisize."

Mate is now looking ahead to tomorrow's Clasica de Almeria.

"Today the fast men have worked for us," he said Tomorrow will be the reverse. Poulhiès and Cammaerts are our options options so we do do the teamwork and work for them. We need to avoid crashes which are common in these races that are often nervous because of the wind."