Steve Bauer

Steve Bauer

Personal information
Full name	Steve Bauer
Born	(1959-06-12) June 12, 1959  Canada
Team information
Current team	SpiderTech-C10
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider (retired) Sporting director
Amateur team(s)
1980 1981–1984	AMF Racing GS Mengoni
Professional team(s)
1985–1987 1988–1989 1990–1995 1996	La Vie Claire La Suisse 7-Eleven Saturn
Managerial team(s)
2008–2012	Team R.A.C.E. Pro
Major wins
National Road Race Champion (1981–1983) Prologue Dauphiné Libéré (1989) Zürich-Metzgete (1989)
Medal record Road bicycle racing Representing  Canada Olympic Games Silver 1984 Los Angeles Individual Road Race Commonwealth Games Silver Brisbane 1982 Individual Road Race World Championships Bronze 1984 Barcelona Elite Men's Road Race Disqualified 1988 Ronse Elite Men's Road Race
Infobox last updated on 9 January 2012

Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959 in St. Catharines, Ontario) is a former professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He is an Olympic medallist and winner of several professional races. He is the winner of the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada.

Cycling career

Bauer joined the Canadian national cycling team in 1977, competing in team pursuit. He would remain on the national team for seven years, winning the national road race championship in 1981, 1982, and 1983, competing in the Commonwealth Games (1978, 1982), the Pan American Games (1979).

He capped his amateur career with a silver medal in the men's cycling road race at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. This was the first medal in road cycling for Canada at the Olympics.^[1]

Bauer turned professional following the Olympics, and in his second professional race, won the bronze medal at the world cycling championship road race in Barcelona.

Between 1985 and 1995, he competed in 11 Tours de France. He began his professional career in 1985 on the La Vie Claire team of Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond, where he stayed until leaving for Weinmann / La Suisse in 1988. Bauer finished fourth in the 1988 Tour de France, winning the first stage and wearing the yellow jersey for five days, the second Canadian to wear the jersey. The first was Alex Stieda in 1986, who was also the first North American to wear the yellow jersey.^[2] Riding for 7-Eleven, Bauer wore the jersey for nine days during the 1990 Tour de France, finishing 27th.

At the 1988 world championship, Bauer collided with Belgian 1984 world champion, Claude Criquielion, as they were sprinting for a gold medal finish. Bauer was disqualified and Criquielion sued Bauer for assault, asking for $1.5 million in damages in a case that dragged through the courts for more than three years before the judge ruled in Bauer's favour. In 1989 Bauer won the Züri-Metzgete.

In 1990, Bauer took second place in Paris–Roubaix to Belgian Eddy Planckaert. The finish was so close that the officials had to study the photo-finish for more than ten minutes before Planckaert was finally declared the winner. After 266 kilometers of racing, Planckaert had just edged Bauer by less than a centimeter, making it the closest finish of the race's history.^[3]

In 1994, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (civil division) for having "paved the way for Canada's coming generations of cycling enthusiasts".^[4]

With professionals allowed in the Olympics, Bauer became a member of the Canadian team for the 1996 Summer Olympics, finishing 41st in the road race. He announced his retirement later that year at 37. The following year, he co-founded Steve Bauer Bike Tours.

Bauer raced in the 2013 Canadian Cycling Championships in the Men's 50-59 road race and finished fourth.^[5]

Team management

In 2008 Bauer was the directeur sportif for Team R.A.C.E. Pro. The riders were Mark Batty, Andrew Hunt, Dustin Macburnie, Buck Miller, Keir Plaice, Jöel Dion-Poitras, Mark Pozniak, Eric Robertson, Ryan Roth, Adam Thuss, Daniel Timmerman and Mark Walters.^[6] Team rode Argon 18 bicycles, in races across North America and in Europe.^[7]

In 2009 Bauer was the directeur sportif of Team Planet Energy with riders: Mark Batty, Éric Boily, Jöel Dion-Poitras, Martin Gilbert, Andrew Hunt, Keven Lacombe, Bruno Langlois, Buck Miller, François Parisien, Keir Plaice, Andrew Randell, Ryan Roth, Charly Vives, and Maxime Vives. The Team is riding Argon18 bicycles with Shimano Groupe Set.

From 2011 to 2012, Bauer was the owner/directeur of Team SpiderTech presented by Planet Energy / SpiderTech C10. The team was granted Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Pro Continental Status on December 12, 2010 and thus becomes the first Canadian cycling team to earn a Professional Continental license.^[8] In 2012, team riders took first in the Tro Bro Léon, the Canadian national road race championships, and the Tour of Elk Grove. The team gained a wildcard invite to the 2012 Tour de Suisse, but Bauer announced in October 2012 that the team was being placed on hold due to financial pressures. In June 2013, Bauer announced that he had been unable to secure new backing, ending the project.^[9]

2011 Team SpiderTech presented by Planet Energy Roster:

• Ryan Anderson (CAN),
• Mark Batty (CAN),
• Zach Bell (CAN),
• David Boily (CAN),
• Guillaume Boivin (CAN),
• Flavio De Luna (MEX),
• Lucas Euser (USA),
• Martin Gilbert (CAN),
• Hugo Houle (CAN) – 2010 Canadian under-23 time trial champion
• Keven Lacombe (CAN),
• Bruno Langlois (CAN),
• Pat McCarty (USA),
• François Parisien (CAN),
• Andrew Randell (CAN),
• Ryan Roth (CAN),
• Will Routley (CAN) – 2010 Canadian road champion

Palmarès

Tour de France

• 1985 — 10th Wore the White Jersey (Best Young Riders Jersey) for most of the Tour.
• 1986 — 23rd
• 1987 — 74th
• 1988 — 4th Stage 1 Victory from Pontchateau to Machecoul and 5 days in Yellow Jersey
• 1989 — 15th
• 1990 — 27th Led the Tour, 9 consecutive days in Yellow Jersey
• 1991 — 97th
• 1993 — 101st
• 1995 — 101st

References

External links

• Steve Bauer Bike Tours
• Team Planet Energy
• Personal biography
• Steve Bauer profile at Cycling Archives
• Official Tour de France results for Steve Bauer