Thursday 4 February 2010

Steve Bauer's Yellow Jersey

Steve Bauer
photo by Pedalmag

A few years ago, shortly after I discovered E-Bay, I located a pristine Team7-Eleven jersey and sent it off to the Niagara Peninsula to see if I could get it signed by Steve Bauer, who remains Canada's most successful stage racer.  He was kind enough to autograph it for me.  Although Alex Stieda was the first Canadian to don the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France, Steve Bauer had the yellow jersey for four days at the Tour for 1988, and for nine times in 1990.  Now I see that he is, in addition to his bike touring company, the Directeur Sportif of a Canadian professional team, SpiderTech presented by Planet Energy.  (As an aside, I always thought it was weird when this "presented by" thing appeared.  I think it was Team US Postal Service presented by Berry Floors where this ridiculous naming convention first appeared.  What would be wrong with SpiderTech-Planet Energy,  like Garmin-Transitions, or HTC-Columbia?).  To raise money for the team, Mr. Bauer auctioned off the last of the yellow jerseys he won and it raised the goodly sum of $23,500. 

There are recent news stories that Jim Balsillie, one of the founders of Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the omnipresent BlackBerry, is a keen cyclist and wants to support Canadian cycling and this team in particular.  As the 327th richest person in the world, let's hope he comes through with some money so Steve doesn't have to go through those remaining 12 jerseys.

N.B.  The single most ridiculous name for a pro cycling team has to be this Italian one:
Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

3 comments:

Bluenoser said...

Can I ask do you know if this founder of the blackberry Jim Balsillie has moved down to Halifax to their new headquarters by any chance?

It would be nice to see him ride the 50K loop.

-B

Sprocketboy said...

The operation in Halifax is a technical support centre. Jim Basillie is the money man of RIM so I am quite sure he is not leaving Kitchener-Waterloo, which also has some nice cycling! The other founder of RIM, Mike Lazaradis, the tech genius, does not look like he has ever ridden a bike, on the other hand...

Will said...

FYI, Bauer is usually in the Alps every summer leading a posh tour roup up climbs to watch the Tour.

I have seen him a couple of times (his group was on Colombiere in 2009) and ridden with guys in his group (they love him)