Does American cyclist Bobby Julich, at 35, want to own the Paris-Nice spring classic bicycle race the same way Lance Armstrong has owned the Tour de France the past 7 years?
Julich, who became the first American to win the legendary week-long “Race to the Sun” in 2005, won Sunday's 3-mile prologue to continue wearing the tour leader's yellow and white jersey.
A rider for Team CSC, Julich was the last rider on the loop course leaving Issy les Moulineaux. In a press conference following the race, he said:
“It's a surprise win for me today because this was not a major goal for me coming here. Paris-Nice is above all a warm-up race for the rest of the season. But this morning in training I realised I had the legs to achieve something and I told myself I should seize the opportunity.”
The 790-mile eight-stage race is the first of the Euro Spring Classics, which also include the Paris Roubaix bike race, leading up to the Tour de France.
The race begins one week after the completion of Tour of California, where Julich finished 3rd. Other of Team CSC's US members, David Zabriskie (2nd in TofC) and Christian Vandevelde (9th) also are riding in Paris-Nice, although overall team leader Ivan Basso is a no show.
US cyclist and Tof C winner Floyd Landis (Phonak) also is competing in Paris-Nice, but T of C stage winners Levi Leipheimer (6) for Gerolsteiner and George Hincapie (4) for Discovery Channel are no shows.
Also, T-Mobile will compete without team leader Jan Ullrich and the Liberty Seguros team rides without Alexandre Vinokourov.
Other Americans riding include Chris Horner on Davitamon-Lotto, Jason McCartney (10th in T of C) on Discovery, and Guido Trenti on QuickStep.
In all, there are 21 teams in the bicycle race that ends Sunday in Nice. Monday's Stage 1 is a relatively flat 120-mile bike race from Villemandeur to Saint Amand Montrond.
Paris-Nice is run by Amaury Sport Organisation, owner of Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix.
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