Luis Villalobos showed up at the 2018 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah with a relatively thin palmarès, which is perfectly understandable for a 20-year-old rider who joined the Aevolo Cycling Team just last year. But with his eighth-place overall finish, along with the best young rider jersey, the recently crowned Mexican time trial champion raised expectations considerably. Villalobos consistently rode with the best climbers at the race, finishing fourth on the stage 2, which climbed over Mount Nebo, and backing it up with eighth on the `queen stage` to Snowbird before successfully defending his young rider jersey on the climb up and over Empire Pass on Sunday, finishing eighth again on the final stage. `I am very happy because it`s been a long time since there have been Mexicans in the big races,` Villalobos said after the Snowbird stage. `Today was a day that felt like a dream for me because of all the work that I have done all year.ADVERTISEMENT `It was a big day for me, and so I`m enjoying that at one of the biggest races here in the United States,` he said. `It`s my first time at the Tour of Utah, and it was wonderful for me, for the team, and for the opportunity for everything we have been given, to trust in me today, and I hope for better things to come in the future.` While waiting for the stage 5 press conference to start after the finish at Snowbird, Villalobos was hit with the realisation of what he had accomplished. A message from home made him very emotional as everything finally began to sink in. `My family sent me a message, and, like everybody, sometimes you get a moment where it all kind of coalesces in your head, like, `Wow, this is all really happening, and it`s just unbelievable,`` he told Cyclingnews. `That`s why the emotion came out.`
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