Julich Tunes In to Tour One More Time

When Bobby Julich takes his pulls at the head of Team CSC’s formation today, he probably will appreciate it more than most Tour de France riders.

The team time trial demands keen focus and discipline as riders slide smoothly in and out of each other’s slipstreams as they try to stay as tightly linked as possible.

It helps to have nine guys on the same wavelength, and Julich, 32, says he’s tuned in more than he has been in ages.

Riding for Cofidis in 1998, Julich finished third in a talent-depleted Tour turned inside out by the Festina doping scandal. The Colorado native says he didn’t always carry the weight of subsequent expectations well. Stints with France’s Credit Agricole and Germany’s Telekom teams left him unsatisfied.

But like Tyler Hamilton before him, Julich says working with CSC director and 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis has been rejuvenating.

“Someone said, ‘Wow, Bobby, you were third in the Tour de France,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, well, that was a long time ago,’ ” Julich recalled in an interview in Philadelphia last month. “Bjarne tapped me on the chest and said, ‘Yes, but it is still inside you.’

“He said, ‘How old are you?’ I said, ‘I’m old. I’ll be 33 in November.’ And he said, ‘I didn’t win the Tour until I was 32.’ The hair on my arms stood up. This is the kind of guy I need motivating me, not some guy saying, ‘Yeah, you are old. Give it up.’ ”

Julich was left off Telekom’s Tour roster last year -- the only time he hasn’t raced here since his first in 1997 -- and found himself unemployed after the season ended.

He considered calling it quits. He called Riis instead.

“Bjarne said, ‘We haven’t got much in the budget, but we’d like to have you on the team,’ ” Julich said.

” ... I don’t want to leave this sport bitter or disappointed and I think I would have been bitter if I had left after last year.”

Julich is not the team leader for Denmark-based CSC, but Riis said he is an important cog in a versatile cycling machine.

After Tuesday’s Stage 3, Julich was in 11th place overall, 26 seconds behind Jean-Patrick Nazon and 15 seconds short of his former Motorola teammate, five-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong.

Julich and Armstrong aren’t close -- “We never clicked,” as Julich puts it.

“But egos aside, this guy has always had my respect from Day One,” Julich said. “I respect him more than he thinks I do. And I think he respects me more than I think he does. If we ever sat down and had a beer, we’d probably work a lot of that out.”

Today will be competition as usual, as CSC likely will vie with Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service and Hamilton’s Phonak to win the team time trial. Julich helped win that stage with Credit Agricole in 2001.

“I would be disappointed if we were out of the top three,” Julich said.

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Stage 3 at a Glance

The third stage of the 91st Tour de France:

* Stage: A 130.2-mile ride from Waterloo, Belgium, to Wasquehal, France, featuring two sections of hazardous cobblestones.

* Winner: Frenchman Jean-Patrick Nazon of the Ag2R Prevoyance team.

* How others fared: Lance Armstrong was 54th and German rival Jan Ullrich of Germany was 18th -- each five seconds after Nazon. Spanish threat Iban Mayo finished 151st, 3 minutes, 53 seconds off the pace.

* Yellow jersey: Australia’s Robbie McEwen of Lotto-Domo team. Armstrong is fifth, 16 seconds behind.

* Quote of the day: “Today’s the worst day of my life. No, not really.” -- Norway’s Thor Hushovd, who lost the yellow jersey just a day after winning it on what he called his happiest day ever.

*--* OVERALL LEADERS 1. Robbie McEwen Australia 13:42:34 2. Fabian Cancellara Swit. :01 behind 3. Jens Voigt Germany :09 behind 4. J.-Patrick Nazon France :12 behind 5. Lance Armstrong U.S. :16 behind

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