By Shane Stokes
Bobby Julich is likely to end his career next season, and the desire for a strong Olympic result is one of the big motivations for the American CSC rider. He took bronze behind Tyler Hamilton and Viatcheslav Ekimov at the 2004 Games; landing another medal would close off his career in style.
With that in mind, he told Cyclingnews prior to the start of Flèche Wallonne that he was structuring things differently this season. "I am not really focusing on the spring this year. Of course, I would like to do well [in Flèche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège]…. these are two beautiful races that I always wanted to show well in."
He said that he was building steadily up for a July peak. "The Tour is the most important for me. And then the world championships for the time trial, and races like that towards the end of the season. I hope to be going to the Olympics so that is why I want to focus on pre-qualifying as soon as I can for the time trial.
"The Olympics will probably be my last race, or one of my last races."
