Bobby Julich spent last week back on familiar roads and with familiar people as he drove a team car for Holowesko-Citadel at the Tour of California.
The former Team Sky and Tinkoff coach, who finished third overall in the 1998 Tour de France while riding for Cofidis, took the wheel to help long-time friend Thomas Craven guide the team through eight days of racing that Julian Alaphalippe (Etixx-QuickStep) won in Sacramento on Sunday.
"It's been interesting," Julich told Cyclingnews as he waited for the start of he Folsom time trial earlier in the week. "I've purposely stayed away from being a DS because I'm not the best driver and my navigational skills are for crap. I think Thomas saw that and said, 'OK, I'm going to throw him into the fire.' So I'm the one responsible for getting us to the starts and to the finishes and to the hotels.
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"It's not my thing but it's been kind of interesting – and of course being in the team cars and seeing the guys. It's been fun being around these races again, being around old friends and learning new names, like this Nielson Powless [Axeon Hagens Berman's 19-year-old revelation who finished ninth overall in California – ed.] Obviously he's on everybody’s radar now."
Julich should know talent when he sees it. As a coach he's worked with some of the best. Following his own professional career, which ended in 2008, Julich worked with Saxo Bank, Team Sky, BMC Racing and Tinkoff, in succession. Julich parted ways with Tinkoff at the end of last season and will be returning to the US later this year.
"I've been in a little bit of a reset mode since leaving Tinkoff and looking toward the future," he said. "We're in the process of moving back to America from Europe. Our daughter starts high school this year, which is a big thing. We didn't want to be one of those parents that ripped their kids out of high school halfway through and give them a little bit of a challenge."
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