knew that if he could just make it through the tunnel of the
Pyrenees stages, the light at the end of that tunnel would be more chances in the upcoming flat stages.  He just so wanted another crack at a bunch sprint.  In the end, he only just missed the time cut, but whether it's by 1 minute or 1 hour, missing the time cut means one thing.  Elimination from the race.  So that's it then.  No more Vuelta 2003 for Julz.  No more chances at chopping it up with Petacchi and Zabel.  

What now?  Who know's?  And that's the scary part.  Time is quickly running out for us as far as securing another contract for next year.  There are not so many races left and with what Julian's body has been through for the last 4 days, it will take time for him to recover from the battering.  I guess we just do what we do best....Put our heads down and bums up again for as long as it takes for our luck to change....

Carole

Keep those mails to Julian coming. We'll forward them to him during the Tour of Spain. Send your mails to info@roadcycling.com .

For more background info on Julian, check out our  wait a minute interview with him.