Photo originally uploaded by kwc.

Bobby turned in a nice time trial performace for this early in the season to finish 3rd in stage three of the Tour of California. Floyd Landis was just at another level today. Dave Zabriskie was second. Bobby is now in third place and will be looking to preserve a podium spot, or move up a CSC rider if the chance comes. There are still plenty of miles to race.

Photo originally uploaded by triitalian on flickr.com.

In the most difficult stage of the Tour, Bobby stayed within striking distance of the leaders over the last big climb, and was able to finish 5th on the stage in the lead group. George Hincapie won the stage and took the overall lead with a 10 second time bonus. Bobby is now in 3rd place, nine seconds off the lead.

CyclingNews: Stage 2 Results and photos

What did you think of the course today?
It was a beautiful day and very scenic. That climb was definitely one of the hardest climbs I’ve done in America. It was a very steep one so I was glad that it all came back together, but it made for some pretty dramatic racing today.
What was going through your head during the last climb?
Yeah, the last climb of the day, what was going though my mind was just to stay in a good group and I knew from the training that I’ve done that I couldn’t really go with the first group but I knew I needed to keep up the speed so that at least I could be in the second group and then come back if the groups did come back together. And it did and it worked out. Oh, and we had three in the front group so we couldn’t have asked for much more.
What was your strategy and did it change at all during the race?

No, we just wanted to make sure we didn’t lose major amounts of time before tomorrow’s time trial and that was mission achieved for that. We lost 10 seconds to Hincapie in the sprint and now he’s the overall leader, but we didn’t lose time, myself or David Zabriskie, and tomorrow will pretty much decide the race. But with Hincapie and Leipheimer behind David and I it’s going to be difficult to do any better.
So far how does Tour of California compare to other stage races that you’ve been in?
I tell you, so far so good. I’m totally impressed with everything so far. The weather has been great, the crowds have been incredible and I cannot find a single problem with it. I mean, we have much better food than the races in Europe, much better hotels than the races in Europe and much better weather than the races in Europe. So I see this race taking off very fast.

Bobby Julich på Kearny StreetOriginally uploaded by caliph_of_copenhagen.

Here is a photo of Bobby in San Francisco posted by caliph of copenhagen. If you are at the Tour of California and take a photo of Bobby. Post it on Flickr.com with a tag of “bobbyjulich” and it will show up with the other photos in the right column of this site.

PezCyclingNews.com made a visit to Team CSC’s Solvang Training Camp…

When I asked Bobby Julich about his personal stake at the Tour of California, he bluntly admitted, “I don’t think I have the legs to put me on top of the podium but I know who – and I’m not telling you – is riding very very well right now. I’d be very disappointed if CSC didn’t have him on top of the podium”

On Tuesday, at the training camp in Solvang, California, Team CSC announced the names of the eight riders who will compete in the inaugural Amgen Tour of California.

The international squad includes: Lars Bak (Denmark), Fabian Cancellera (Switzerland), Bobby Julich (USA), Karsten Kroon (Holland), Stuart O’Grady (Australia), Christian Vande Velde (USA), Jens Voigt (Germany) and David Zabriskie (USA).

“I’m sending a very motivated group of riders who can win the Tour of California,” said Bjarne Riis, owner and manager of Team CSC. “And since the race finishes in Southern California, near the headquarters of CSC, our title sponsor, it’s a race we’d clearly love to win.”