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Steve Bauer was born in St. Catharines and raised in the hamlet of Fenwick, Ontario. Like many other young Canadians, Steve grew up playing hockey, but also practiced many other sports during his young years playing baseball, basketball, soccer and gymnastics. Steve would ride his bike to get around whether to go to baseball practice or to meet friends. One summer at the age of 16 years, his mom Frances suggested he check out the St.Catharines Cycling Club as she had read in the Standard newspaper some racing accolades of Gord Singleton and Karen Strong. In the spring of 1977 as a junior, Bauer joined the Canadian national track cycling team and raced in the Track World Cycling Championships in Vienna, Austria as a junior and also with the senior men's team in San Cristobal, Venezuela. The Canadian senior men’s team of Lovell, Walton, Hayman and Bauer qualified in the team pursuit before being eliminated by East Germany. This would be a moment in Steve’s life when he realized that he should pursue a career in bike racing.
Front 1981 to 1984 Steve road with GS Mangonie where founder Fred Mengonie mentored Steve and encouraged him to train like a pro. Fred set-up contact and training partnership with Greg Lemond. In the winter of 1983-84, Steve would log more endurance road miles then ever before. Steve transitioned to his professional career after winning a silver medal at 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games Road Race. Following the games, Steve immediately transferred to Europe and after only one month as a pro, won bronze at the Professional Road World Championship in Barcelona, Spain. This moment was the beginning of a 12 year journey amongst cycling’s greatest road athletes and historic competitions. As a first year pro in 1985 Steve rode the Tour de France with the La Vie Claire Team. Steve would lead the Tour wearing the white “rookie” jersey for almost the entire race before dropping behind the Columbian Fabio Parra. As a teammate of both Greg Lemond and Bernard Hinault, Steve would be the lieutenant for both mean as they battled for the Yellow Jersey and overall victory in both the 1985 and 1986 Tours. After changing team’s to Weinmann - La Suisse in 1988, Bauer raced his personal best Tour de France, winning a stage, leading the race for 5 days in yellow and completing the overall general classification at 4th place in Paris. Two years later in 1990 under new direction of the American 7-Eleven team, Steve jumped out in the lead on stage one and raced in the yellow jersey for nine consecutive stages. Over his career, In total, Steve participated into eleven Tours from 1985 to 1995.
In 1994 Bauer was awarded the Canadian Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal and received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws at Brock University. After retiring in 1996, Steve co-founded Steve Bauer Bike Tours. Based in St. Catharines, the company specializes in high quality, international bicycle tours and events for cycling enthusiasts.
In 2005 Stave Bauer was inducted to the Canadian Olympic Sport Hall of Fame and as well the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame. Steve Bauer cofounded Cycle Sport Management with Josee Larocque and built Canada’s first ever Continental Professional road mens’ cycling team from 2008 to 2012. The Canadian athlete focused team raced internationally reaching its peak in 2012 racing on the world tour at the Tour de Suisse. Cycle Sport Management provided opportunity for Canadian men and launched several into the Pro Tour ranks.
Currently, Steve heads the direction of the Milton Cycling Academy at the recently opened Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, On. It seems the cycling passion has never dwindled for Bauer in all his pursuits.
Steve Bauer brought recognition to Canada on the international cycling stage, has become one of the “legends” of Canadian cycling, and set a humble example of the way a small town Canadian hockey player can pave the way for future Canadian cyclists to achieve great things.
BORN: June 12 1959, St. Catharines, ON, CANADA
CYCLING CAREER
POST CYCLING CAREER
RACING TEAMS
TEAM MATES
Raced with the following champions and team-mates of high class or achievement
RACING HIGHLIGHTS
CANADIANS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
COMMONWEALTH GAMES
OLYMPIC GAMES
WORLDS CHAMPIONSHIPS
TOUR DE FRANCE
GIRO D’ITALIA
CLASSIC & WORLD CUP
INTERNATIONAL TOUR & RACE
INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIX
NOTEABLE WORLD RANKINGS
HONORARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF INTEREST
In the morning, from the north, under a bright sunshine, we climbed the Col de La Madeleine, a classic of the Tour since 1969 with its 25.3 km at 6.2% average for a total of 1585 m gain to culminate at 2000 m of altitude. It was a quiet day on the Madeleine. Everyone else was