Andrew Hood pre-rides the Monaco TT with Bobby Julich

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Bobby Julich says fans and cyclists are in for a real treat come Saturday when the 15.5km individual time trial at Monaco opens the 96th Tour de France.

The ex-pro — who retired after the 2008 season and now works with the Saxo Bank team as technical advisor, counseling his teammates on equipment and time trial preparation — says the Monaco time trial puts an exclamation mark on the front end of the Tour.

“This is a fantastic course,” Julich told VeloNews earlier this year. “It throws all the aspects of time trialing at you. It’s going to be a little bit long for some of these sprinters to be as competitive as they have been in the past in the prologues. You will see TT specialists and GC contenders packing the top 10.”

In March, VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood rode the time trial course with Julich, who is based in nearby Nice, France, as he got his first look at the intense course that will kick the Tour into gear on Saturday.

Here’s Julich’s exclusive insider preview of the Monaco time trial course:

Setting the stage: There’s no comparison on what this course represents. I think it’s really cool they decided to do it in a place like this to verify our sport. Whenever you have any event in Monaco, it’s a big deal. Just as a fan of cycling, this is going to be so exciting. The crowds will be huge.

Tactics on TT course: The tendency is to go full gas, because it’s still kind of a prologue. And being the Tour de France, it changes everything, with the static electricity that’s bouncing around. It takes a very disciplined person to be able to put those emotions and excitement aside and focus on what their possibilities are. You’ll see guys wanting to smash up that first climb in the big ring. There will be guys who are regretting it about halfway up. The warm-up is going to be very important; discipline is going to be important.

The start (first kilometer past Palace Casino): That’s a difficult start, so make sure you don’t overcook it with all the nervous energy you’ll have, with starting in Monaco and going through the Palace Casino. You must keep it in check and take it as a progression, because once you overcook it with adrenaline, that means you’ve gone way over your lactic acid threshold, and you’re not going to be able to dissipate that lactic acid going up a climb. There’s no way to recover if you go too hard.

Opening climb (to 4km past the Jardin Exotique and Cap-d’Ail): This isn’t anything that is too steep, it just brings into question if you are going to do it in big ring or little ring. That’s when you get into trouble if you’re having to shift down, if your legs are too lactated, then it’s too late. Once you go over your limit, it’s hard to stabilize without losing time. This will be for one for the guys who are on form who also know how to control their emotions at the start.

False-flat transition (to 6km past Beausoleil on the Moyenne Corniche): Once you get up here, it’s rolling a little bit, but that first 4 kilometers, that’s the key to the race. It’s like a prologue, but at the same time, you need to be able to control your effort.

Middle section (to Cat. 4 Côte de Beausoleil): This will be survival mode. For the guys who rode it properly, this will be an opportunity to just kill it over these 2 kilometers. This section is very important. This is where you will be able to click down a gear or two and power over the top of the climb.

First descent (down JFK Avenue to 5km to go): The descent is a little bit steep, so you will have to maintain your speed, but there are a couple of corners where you will be able to stop pedaling a little bit and regain your breath. That can be greatly affected by the wind. If it’s a headwind, you’re going to have to put a lot of pressure on the pedals. If it’s a tailwind, you will be spun out and aerodynamics will become a huge factor. So far, you have everything you’d want in a time trial.

Lower switchbacks (between 4 to 3km to go): I am surprised it’s not as technical as I expected it to be, especially on the corners. Once you get to the roundabout by the Saint Roman, with these little switchbacks, it will take some descending skills.

Final flats (to Port Hercule): It’s flat to the coast to the finish line. Once you get here, the rest is just a drag race to the finish. Who has what in their legs to push the watts in their final kilometers after they’ve just destroyed their legs going up that climb will win.

Overall impression: This is a fantastic course. There is no place to take a rest, where you can recover for something else. It throws all the aspects of time trialing at you. It’s going to be a little bit long for some of these sprinters to be as competitive as they have in the past in the prologues. You will see TT specialists and GC contenders packing the top 10.

Monte Carlo flavor: I thought it would be much more like a Monaco Formula 1 circuit, just a technical adventure, but now, thinking about the weather, if it’s rainy, this will be still be do a doable course. It’s much more controlled than I thought it was going to be. I was nervous if they made it like the Monaco GP, it would be a circus.

Factor of wind: The wind comes in from the sea, it gets pretty breezy through here. The wind can change, and there’s no way to predict where it will come from, either. It can change from one kilometer to the next, it can go from a headwind to a tailwind.

TT favorite: Contador. Especially the way he can be so explosive on the climbs and still maintain his position, his power and his form on the flats. Take into account a couple of the specialists, a guy like Fabian (Cancellara) who can do power climbs like that, push himself, and then recover on the flats. A mix between the GC guys, the major on-form guys like Contador, and the specialists. I don’t think there will be many sprinters in the top 10.

Impact on GC: There will be major time differences made. The prologue in Paris-Nice, at only 9.3km, some riders were losing 20-30 seconds on totally flat time trial. Anybody that’s gunning for GC could lose a minute.

How hard first week impacts rest of Tour: This is a very unique Tour in the sense you have this time trial, when everyone is ready for the prologue, but not everyone is ready for this sort of massive efforts right out of the blocks. With some tricky courses, then on the seventh day, a full-on climbing stage already, there’s no riding into this Tour. It favors who peaked at the right time and who can hang on to their peak longer. You have to be at or near your peak at the start, so you don’t lose time, and hopefully hang on up the final up Mont Ventoux. It’s a very unique Tour. It will keep people glued to their TVs. It could turn into one of those crazy tactical battles, where someone takes a big chunk of time at the beginning and the leaders chip away and maybe don’t get back.

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