Oscar Freire won the 101st Milan-San Remo in a sprint from a group of about 25 riders. It was the third win of La Primavera for Rabobank’s three-time world champion. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) was second and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) came third.

Unfortunately here in Canada I don’t get to see many races and this was another. Television coverage of cycling is dire, yet Sports stations such as TSN, Sportsnet and The Score show a ridiculous amount of poker during the day. I love a good game of poker but it isn’t a sport, certainly not with some brilliant cycling races are taking place around the world. Would it be too much for these channels to fill an hour or two during the day by covering some high end, elite sporting events? Outdoor Life Network covers the Tour de France, but that is it. There is nothing on the Giro or the Tour of Spain and if I am to see any of it I’ll have to subscribe to Cycling TV online. Shame they don’t have a physical television because I’d be a member tomorrow.

Come on TSN, Sportsnet etc. pick up some real world class sport, I’m betting you’d be surprised at the ratings.

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?