Anyone who know me knows I'm a huge fan of the Tour de France... ok, so forget all about the allegations of doping that accompany any sport and cycling is no different... but most of you still watch football and hockey and those sports are not without their drug related problems so lets stay away from any banter about who was taking what on the cycling tours... doesn't matter... when you watch these guys they are putting it on the line each end every time they go out there... sometimes out on the road for over 6 hours, climbing hills that you and I would suffer a neck strain from even looking up...

Today Canada's Ryder Hesjedal won the prestigious Giro d'Italia, a gruelling 3 week cycling race regarded as one of the top three races in the world. No Canadian has finished higher than 4th (Steve Bauer) in any Grand Prix Cycling event and we should all be proud of what Ryder has done. I watched him last year in the Tour de France and he performed extremely well and would have finished higher had he not been caught up one stage in a crash which ultimately cost him a chance at the podium.

It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for this 31 year old Canadian cyclist and indeed what his victory will mean for cycling in Canada in the next little while. In Bowls we should be looking at finding and promoting our own stars when they are successful and using them as best we can to promote what a great sport we have as well. Hey Ryan... you don't mind being used do you?

In the meantime read more about Ryder's victory here.