Julich rolls to Criterium victory
 |  A rejuvenated Julich is growing accustomed to the yellow jersey |
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CHARLEVILLE-MEZIERES, France -- American Bobby Julich maintained his superb start to the cycling season with victory in the prestigious Criterium International event.
The CSC rider, who triumphed in the Paris-Nice stage race, the opening round of the Pro Tour, utlilized his time trial strength in the 8.3km final stage.
It enabled him to overhaul promising young Dutch rider Thomas Dekker, who had won a tough 98.5 kilometer stage earlier on Sunday.
Dekker, the winner last season of the Tour of Normandy and the prestigious GP Eddy Merckx two-man time trial (with Koen de Kort), had outsprinted Germany's Jorg Jaksche at the top of the Roche aux Sept Villages climb.
Julich finished third, but was able to wipe out a three-second deficit by winning the concluding time trial.
He rode at over 49kph to claim the victory ahead of his CSC teammate Jens Voigt, who came second at 02seconds. Another CSC man, Kurt-Asle Arvesen of Norway, was third 11seconds behind.
It meant that Dekker, who finished 11 seconds behind Julich in the time trial, finished the race in second place overall at eight seconds behind.
Voigt, the pre-race favorite, saw his overall victory bid ruined in the morning stage as he was unable to match the pace of the Dekker and the frontrunners and came home nearly a minute and a half in arrears. It ruined his bid for overall victory.
On a day which seen half of the peloton (72 riders) disqualified for failing to finish the nine-climb stage within the permitted time, the first attack of the day on the first climb proved decisive.
Jaksche led Julich and CSC team-mate Ivan Basso over all of the day's difficulties, during which they were joined by Dekker, the Dutchman having caught up with them 15km after they first attacked.
Together they went on to build a significant lead on the peloton, whose tardiness later proved decisive for their future in the race.
Dekker, considered the next big Dutch cycling star, made his move on the final climb of the day leaving Jaksche and Julich struggling to keep pace.
But on the testing short time trial later in the day it was American Julich who had the last laugh as he repeated his 1998 Criterium International win, the year he finished third in the Tour de France.
"I'm going to roll it until the wheels come off," said the elated 33-year-old. "I can't say enough about my team, how we motivate each other," he added.
Armstrong back
Spain's reigning world road race champion Oscar Freire, of the Rabobank team, warmed up for next week's Tour of Flanders by winning the Fleche Brabanconne one-day classic held over 198 km in Belgium.
The race was notable for the return to racing of six-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong after he pulled out of the Paris Nice race.
The 29-year-old Freire, who a few weeks ago won the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, held off Dutchman Marc Lotz of Quick Step and Davitamon rider Axel Merckx of Belgium, who took third place after 3hr 38min 56sec of racing.
Freire was one of the day's main animators, the Spaniard forming part of a 15-strong group which in the latter stages broke away from the rest of the peloton.
The leading group included American George Hincapie, and with his Discovery Channel team-mate Armstrong having done his support job for the New Yorker, the 33-year-old Texan sat back in the peloton.
It was left to Freire to take matters into his own hands, the Spaniard accelerating away from his 14 breakaway companions with around 20km to go.
Only Lotz and Merckx managed to keep pace but once it came to a three-man sprint on an incline towards the finish line, Freire was left unchalleneged.
The Fleche Brabanconne is part of the International Cycling Union (UCI) European tour calendar and is considered a useful warm-up for the Tour of Flanders, where Freire will be looking to take back the lead of the Pro Tour series from Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who is not participating.
Petacchi (93 points), the winner of Milan-San Remo last week, leads Freire (78) by 15 points. Fifty points are on offer for victory in a one-day Pro Tour race such as Flanders and Milan-San Remo.
