GLENWOOD SPRINGS - With few big names entering the 2007 Tour de France, the race lost another last Friday - Bobby Julich.

That day it was announced that Julich, a 1990 Glenwood Springs High School graduate, would not be on Team CSC's lineup for the Tour.

"I was not selected because on Team CSC we have many great riders and my results this year have not allowed me to make the cut," Julich said in an e-mail to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. "I respect my team and teammates enough to accept this decision and I know that they will have a great Tour."

Julich started his professional career in 1992 and has raced in the Tour de France nine times, starting in 1997. He didn't compete in the 2003 Tour.

"I will be 36 in November and I always knew that this would happen one day so I am taking it all in stride," Julich said.

CSC, the Denmark-based team, selected nine riders to its lineup - Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt, Stuart O'Grady, Fabian Cancellara, Inigo Cuesta, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie. Vande Velde and Zabriskie are the only Americans on CSC's Tour squad.

"As always, it's been a very difficult decision. It may sound like a cliché, but again this year we have had the luxury in the fact that we have so many strong riders, who would be able to do well in Tour de France," said Kim Andersen, Team CSC's sport director, in a statement on CSC's Web site.

On June 15, Julich was forced to withdraw from the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré during the fifth stage due to illness.

"Of course me having to stop the Dauphine with stomach troubles hurt my selection, but I am professional enough to know that you have to take care of your health first," Julich said.

Julich placed third in the 1998 Tour, becoming only the second American to stand on the race's podium at the time.

He also won an Olympic bronze medal in the 2004 time-trial event, and has raced to 19 professional stage and event victories in his career. In 2005, Julich notched another career highlight, becoming the first American to win Paris-Nice, a weeklong spring stage race. The same year, he recorded wins in the Critérium International and the Eneco Tour of Benelux.

In last summer's Tour de France, Julich crashed in the Stage 7 time trial, suffering a wrist injury that forced him to drop out of the race. During the 2006 race and after, Julich provided insights to the Tour through a diary posted on www.espn.com.

Even though he will not be racing, Julich said he still plans on watching this year's Tour.

"Watching the Tour on TV is difficult, but first and foremost, I am a fan of cycling and of course will follow it every day," he said.

More Tour

- Get your 2007 Tour preview Friday in the SDN sports section, including a column on how we should approach this year's race as fans.

- Bobby Julich's mother is delivering a presentation Friday at the Senior Center on her memories from following her son in France for nine Tours. Read about it in Saturday's paper.



Bobby Julich at the Tour de France

• 1997: Placed 17th.

• 1998: Placed third.

• 1999: Crashed in a time trial, fracturing elbow and breaking two ribs.

• 2000: Placed 48th.

• 2001: Placed 18th.

• 2002: Placed 37th.

• 2003: Did not race

• 2004: Placed 40th.

• 2005: Placed 17th.

• 2006: Crashed in a time trail, broke wrist and suffered road rash on hip, ribs and elbow.