Where is the media love?

Like so many of Australia’s cycling fraternity, I’m greatly looking forward to the UCI road World Championships, but I’m starting to question the timing of the six-day carnival.

Like so many of Australia's cycling fraternity, I'm greatly looking forward to the UCI road World Championships, but I'm starting to question the timing of the six-day carnival.

Nestled between the end of the AFL season and the start of the Commonwealth Games, I'm starting to wonder whether the mainstream media will jump on board and cover the titles as you would expect.

God forbid if Collingwood gets up over St Kilda in this weekend's Grand Final as Melbourne's AFL-hungry media is likely to devote the following days news pages and TV time dissecting the game, leaving very little space (if any) to world cycling's showpiece.

What's worse is the men's road race is scheduled for Sunday, October 3rd – the same day as the NRL Grand Final in Sydney.

Now, for those living north of the Murray River, I can guarantee the only way you'll get your fix of World's lead-up coverage is via the internet and nowhere else!

At a time when the eyes of the sporting universe will literally be centred on Geelong, many pockets of fans in Australia will be enveloped in a game foreign to all those competing on the roads of Victoria.

I don't necessarily blame supporters who might be starved of information next week.

Instead I weigh total blame on editors and publishers of major daily newspapers and producers of the commercial TV news in the capital cities who might choose to turn a blind eye on the goings-on in Geelong.

I predict the only place to welcome coverage of the titles will be Geelong itself through its regional TV news and daily community newspapers such as The Advertiser.

But in a city with a population just in excess of 150,000 that's hardly blanket coverage is it?

So, what does that tell us about world cycling's profile when it clashes with footy finals fever?

The facts are the arrival of the best cyclists on Australian soil is akin to Melbourne hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix or Sydney presenting a major FIFA tournament - tens of millions in all corners of the globe will be glued to TV sets and online - watching every pedal pushed.

Will the devotion and hysteria from those who print the daily sporting pages or produce the nightly TV pictures from our own sporting backyard, generate similar care or concern for cycling?

I'd be very surprised if they do.