The Criterium International was today on OLN. It is a cool race that features three stages in two days. Day one is a road race and day two contains both a mountain stage and a time trial. American Bobby Julich is still doing well and that is good for two reasons. One – it is always good to see an American do well in the European classics and two – Julich is expected to be a force in the Tour de France and with him peaking this early, it bodes well for Lance and Team Discovery. Julich surprised everyone by dominating the time trial stage and taking his first outright win in the Criterium International (he was awarded the win in 1998 after the guy ahead of him was disqualified for testing positive) and his second classic win of the short season.


Team Discovery skipped Criterium International and chose to ride in the GP Waregem (Belgium) with some of their team and the Semana Catalana (Belgium) with others. They have also announced that team will be in full force for next week’s Tour of Flanders.