Lescar, France – Bobby Julich isn’t crazy about being the answer to a trivia question, no matter how flattering the question.
Who are the only two Americans to finish in the top three of the Tour de France in the past 15 years? One is obvious. Lance Armstrong, barring a monumental collapse, will win his record seventh consecutive victory Sunday.
The other? Glenwood Springs High School grad Bobby Julich, class of 1990.
Julich finished third in 1998 behind Italy’s Marco Pantani and Germany’s Jan Ullrich. Contrary to popular belief, Julich did not ride into a ditch, never to be heard from again. Although a ditch would have been preferable to some situations encountered during his cycling odyssey.
He has resurfaced with one of the best teams in the world, as the mentor to the Tour de France’s next great cyclist. Julich, 33, is the senior member of CSC, the Denmark-based team that is already pumping Ivan Basso as the favorite for the 2006 Tour.
In seven years, Julich has gone from a Tour de France contender to a Tour de France adviser and support rider. And he couldn’t be happier.
“It’s been fantastic,” said Julich, relaxing at his team hotel Tuesday night at the foot of the Pyrenees. “It’s helped me grow as a person as well as a cyclist. After five years where I was going through three different teams, where I wasn’t finding the support that I needed, it was nice to come here and find a home with CSC.”
His previous homes were more like foster homes. He felt like an orphan – and was treated like one. That’s an unusual career path for a cyclist who, at 26, was on the cusp of international greatness.
But negotiating that cusp can be heavy for a kid who got into racing merely because he once watched the Coors Classic. After 1998, he was living in Nice, France, racing for the French team Cofidis, and the bike-crazy nation wanted to know if he would take the next step up the podium.
“That was part of the problem: I didn’t see any success other than getting better than third in the Tour de France,” Julich said. “Life is about those little successes. Even in failure, you have to pull out that little thing you did good that day and with everyone, all they wanted to talk about was the Tour de France and, ‘Oh, you’re going to be on the podium again or even higher.’
“And I just needed someone to show me how to get there again.”
In 2000, he went for the big bucks and jumped to Credit Agricole, another French team that thought it had another Greg Lemond, the American who won three Tours under then-Agricole director Roger Legeay.
It was the worst year of Julich’s career.
“First and foremost, I didn’t have the people around me that I trusted,” Julich said. “It seemed to them that enough support was just to give you a big paycheck at the end of every month, but that was about it.”
Julich wanted help. Credit Agricole was falling way behind in the ever-changing world of cycling technology. He told Legeay he wanted a wind tunnel. He wanted lighter bikes, and a chef to travel with the team.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Do you really think that’s going to make you ride faster?”‘ Julich said. “And I said, ‘Yes.’ He turned to me and goes, ‘No, I don’t think so,’ and he walked out. That’s when it went from being a sport to just marking my paycheck because I knew it was no use.”
He wound up leaving for the German-based Telekom, now T-Mobile, though his life didn’t improve with his new surroundings. He had homes in Nice and Lake Tahoe, a lovely wife and a loving daughter. But Julich wasn’t happy. He pondered retirement.
CSC had just lost Boulder’s Tyler Hamilton to Phonak and was making changes. Team director Bjarne Riis contacted Julich.
“I signed a very small contract and said, ‘OK, I’m going to go to this team meeting and if it’s anything like the teams I’ve been riding for, I’m just going to take my contract, rip it up and say, ‘Bjarne, thanks, but no thanks,’ and take the next plane back to America,” Julich said.
But Riis talked about teamwork and competitiveness and commitment. Julich didn’t rip up anything but the streets. After one year under Riis, Julich returned to the international stage with an Olympic bronze medal in the time trial in Athens, two spots behind Hamilton’s gold.
This year, Julich won the Paris-Nice race and Criterium International and stands 19th after Wednesday’s flat 17th stage, which Italy’s Paolo Savoldelli of the Discovery Channel won. Armstrong kept a 2:46 lead on Basso.
Basso won’t catch Armstrong, but he could stand alone in a year. Julich will be one reason.
“He has a lot of experience,” Riis said. “He’s not afraid to take responsibility and decisions. And he can also win races.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
