The organisers were quick to realise that scheduling a date that didn't clash with the AFL grand final would be integral to securing a wider audience for the event.

So, it was to be held the week following the Big Day in September, when the endless dissection and ad nauseum post-game analysis finally dissipated into a faint memory ... (wishful thinking, on my part. This is Melbourne, after all.)

The Australian media would finally be permitted to draw their attention to the huge international field of extraordinary athletes coming to cut laps around Geelong, providing the public with sound bites from the who's who of contenders for the Rainbow Jersey.

Then Geelong FC lost their preliminary final against Collingwood a week ago, and plenty of cyclists and fans alike secretly acknowledged that this might mean more local spectators on the climbs.

The best riders in the world might even get some of the recognition they deserved.

On Grand Final day, the Australian women's road team were in chilly Ballarat to race the inaugural Herald Sun World Cycling Classic as part of our pre-worlds build up. We watched the game from our little motor inn, our heating cranked up, displaying varying levels of interest and understanding.

Mostly, we were barracking for Collingwood, if only because our mechanic, Nico, is an avid - not rabid, there's a difference - Pies supporter.

(It is always in any team's interest if the mechanic is content and elated rather than angry and depressed!)

But it was a tie - what are the chances?

The third tie in the history of the game, and one which Collingwood supporters would no doubt be more bitter about, given that the Pies lead for the first 113 minutes of the game and the Saints for most of the the last 7.

The next day, three days before the first event of the cycling championships, Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun allocated 46 pages to the tied final: 24 in the 'news' section and 22 in the sport section.

The organiser of the cycling event was asked if he would consider moving the women's road race forward by a few hours, to reduce the overlap in programming (One HD and 10 are covering the cycling, 7 is covering the football).

And during our race in Ballarat, many of the Euro riders symapthised - after all, the Italian daily sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport runs a 90/10 rule on sports coverage: 90% football, 10% everything else.

So when I thought about what this meant for us, our team, and for women's cycling, I realised three important things: firstly, the Venn diagram enclosing Eddie McGuire wannabes and those likely to watch a women's road race was very small indeed.

Secondly, it wasn't going to change our plan, or our efforts. We were preparing to win a race, not be watched on TV (although green and gold ribbons have been purchased, I assure you!) There had been plenty of thrilling finishes to women's road races that were seen by barely a few hundred people in the 2010 European road season.

Thirdly, I'm no sports psych, but I can guess that the biggest battle for the two teams will be channelling the focus of their 36 blokes to do it all over again.

Meanwhile, down in the Paris of the South, hundreds of the world's best riders are in the form of their lives, the course is harder than everyone imagined and motivation is at an all-time high.

It's a sports fan's perfect scenario - witnessing elite athletes at their best, desperately fighting it out on a circuit that will break most of us. There'll be pain, suffering, crashes, lycra and a whole lot of women with great legs.

I can guarantee that the repeat of the 2010 AFL grand final will not be half as exciting as watching the coverage of the women's road world championships!

(Bridie O'Donnell, an Australian professional rider with UCI Team Valdarno, will be riding in the Road World Cycling Championships in Geelong this week. She is Back Page Lead's cycling columnist - and editor of her own blog, Bridie.com.au)