Bobby Julich hired by Team Sky
Team Sky, the year-old British cycling team, has signed the former Saxo Bank manager Bobby Julich as a coach for 2011.
This will be the American's first job as a coach, and the first time he has worked for a new organization in seven years. He first joined CSC, now known as Saxo Bank, as a cyclist in 2004 and rode for the team for five years. He retired from competition
at the end of 2008 and spent the next two years as part of the management team.
"Race coaching is everything to do with the athletes' lives," said Team Sky head coach Rod Ellingworth.
"It involves so much; planning, supporting the riders whenever they need it, whether it's time trialing, positional or tactical work, basically whatever is needed to help them in every area. It could even be getting them back on track after an illness."
38-year-old Julich finished in top ten at the 1996 Vuelta a Espana and finished on the podium at the Tour de France two years later. He won a time-trial bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics in his first year at Saxo Bank. One year later, he won Critérium International,
the Eneco Tourm, and became the first American to win the Paris-Nice.
"I am extremely excited to be joining Team Sky," said Julich. "I think I will fit in perfectly with this team and hope that my experience will help this team progress and reach its goals for the future."
Ellingworth is hoping that Julich’s experience in helping Andy Schleck to the podium in the 2010 Tour de France had primed him for the coaching position. Julich is the first coach to be hired for a long-term, one-on-one athletic relationship with the team’s
key riders, a role very different from the American’s former job at Saxo Bank.
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