By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Alpharetta, Georgia
As Team CSC's Bobby Julich ended Phase One of his so-far super 2005 season, where the American won Paris-Nice and Criterium International, Cyclingnews spoke to him after the Tour Of Georgia.
"Mentally I felt really good at this race, but obviously the fresh legs of the other guys were a little too much", a smiling Julich told Cyclingnews as he signed autographs for a huge crowd of fans that clustered around the CSC team camper. "Honestly, my motivation wasn't, you know, terrific; I wanted to come here and have fun. When those two guys (Danielson and Leipheimer) attacked yesterday on Brasstown Bald, my main objective was to getting to the top without hurting myself. I was already thinking about my seven days off the bike next week."
CN: Are you going back home to Reno?
BJ: Yeah, I'm going up to train at altitude for a month before I head back to Europe.
CN: Will your friend Jens Voigt join you this year like he did in 2004?
BJ: Jens and his wife are expecting their fourth child soon, so he's staying close to home.
CN: Your friend Jens had a hell of a Liege-Bastogne-Liege today! But Vino just beat him...
BJ: Probably my two best friends in cycling right now.
CN: Bobby, you were here at the race where Lance Armstrong announced his retirement...you have been a big rival of Lances since you were both junior riders in the late 1980's. What's your appreciation of Lance?
BJ: I would say we were dangerously close to being really good friends, but we never quite made it that far. I definitely respect him as an athlete and a cancer survivor and I hope he continues to promote cycling as he has in the past seven, eight years.
CN: What is your racing program going forward?
BJ: When I return to Europe in June, I'll race the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour De France.
CN: Will that be it for your season?
BJ: No no no, I want to try and make it to the World's and try for a World (time trial) title this year.
