Canada’s greatest and most successful cyclist ever Steve Bauer has formed a professional Cycling team made up mainly of Canadian riders with the hope of one day getting them into the Tour de France. The team, backed by Blackberry billionaire and failed NHL owner Jim Balsillie and named SpiderTech, hopes that it can compete in big time pro races by 2011 and in the Tour de France itself by 2013. Bauer is the teams Director Sportif and is no strange to Tour de France races. He competed in 11 Tours in his time finishing a Canadian-best fourth overall in 1988.

This would be incredible for Canadian Cycling if this took off. Cycling is big in Canada but not as big as it could and should be in a country with as many roads, people and mountains as it holds. The TV coverage of pro-cycling is almost non-existant. Only the Outdoor Life Network provides the Versus feed of the Tour de France but no other events. It would be wonderful if this thing got big and big Sports networks like TSN, Sportsnet or even The Score got involved and started showing some of the Grand Tours and big classic races. A few more Canadian riders and perhaps a few Canadian wins would go along way to helping towards this.

After all, one look at what some of these sports channels show during the day anyway – poker for example – and you have to wonder why they haven’t got onboard and gave Cycling coverage a go?

Read more about: Canadian Cycling, Sportsnet, Steve Bauer, The Score, TSN, TV | ALL SUBJECTS |

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