Luis Villalobos abandons Tour Colombia after incident with moto

Aevolo's Mexican time trial champion Luis Villalobos had his Tour Colombia 2.1 abruptly ended on Thursday during stage 3 when he crashed after an incident with a race motorbike. The young rider injured his lower back and tried to carry on, but the pain was too much and he climbed off during the final lap.

The incident occurred after the third of four laps as the peloton started the climb up the category 3 Alto Nano. A Postobon Manzana neutral support moto was handing out bottles to a group of riders when a "moment's inattention" caused the riders to come too close and swerve to avoid contact. The incident involved multiple riders, and, Villalobos said, another rider landed on him when he fell.

Villalobos was not clear on whose part the inattention occurred, but he did not specifically blame the moto driver and said it was just a typical race incident.

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Team Illuminate's Cameron Piper was behind the riders involved in the incident and described it for Cyclingnews.

"Riders were coming up from behind, and then the moto stopped really quickly, and I think that's what caused the crash," Piper said. "I don't know if [Villalobos] actually hit the moto or just someone who swerved off of it. That can happen all the time."

Villalobos finished eighth overall last year at the Tour of Utah and signed with EF Education First for this season, with an expected June move from his Aevolo development team to the WorldTour squad that are also in the race. Aevolo team director Mike Creed said his rider made his way back to the team car to ask for advice as he was suffering pain in his lower back and left hip.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com