PAT Shaw is putting out his opinion on the Grand Tour and is not worried about whether it is the popular perspective - but this is not about being a football-style shock jock either.
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Shaw's debut call-up to the SBS special comments team for the Giro d'Italia this week has been refreshing.
The Ballarat former professional cyclist told The Courier his aim was to educate people on cycling so they would want to follow the sport more.
This is what he best appreciates from any sports commentator.
It is a tough side of the sport that can elude many athletes, helping fans to best appreciate tactics and conditions and unique insights to what competitors are facing in preparation to getting out on course. There is a balance for commentators to not get too caught up in the lingo or indulge too much in personal anecdotes.
Shaw said just enjoyed the sport.
In his eight years since retiring from the professional circuit, Shaw has continued to promote the sport - and Ballarat - in summer commentary roles and in the bike shop he runs with his father Dennis Shaw.
Shaw has become sports director for TeamBridgeLane's women's squad after crowd-funding to start a domestic women's team from scratch after noticing the landscape was looking dire for females. This was just as opportunities were opening up for female athletes on Grand Tour and Monument events, such as Paris-Roubaix.
Venturing deeper into commentary is another avenue to promote the sport.
Seasoned commentator Matt Keenan has previously told The Courier he liked to look for the green-and-gold jersey on Grand Tours to talk about the cyclist and where they earned their stripes.
This is the last European Grand Tour season - for now - that such honours have been won in the AusCycling Road National Championships in Buninyong. RoadNats are moving to Perth after 18 consecutive years in Ballarat.
Twenty-three-year-old Luke Plapp has claimed the road race crown that past three years in Buninyong. He is riding in his debut Giro and first Grand Tour experience since been thrown into the Spanish Vuelta on the back on the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
This is a rider who, in the wake of winning his first Buninyong crown, would pull on the green-and-gold for training rides when technically the jersey and matching-coloured bike were reserved for racing.
Shaw liked to be "glass half-full" in that while RoadNats have left Ballarat, he was confident they would be back sooner than we might think.
He liked to think the national jersey was bigger than where it was won: Plapp was carrying the stripes of Australia.
Shaw joins dual Australian road race champion Gracie Elvin and time trial champion Bridie O'Donnell, who both captured their stripes in Ballarat, to call the Giro alongside Keenan, Giro stage winner David McKenzie, renowned international sprinter Mark Renshaw and former Australian professional road cyclist Mitchel Docker.
They are based in a Melbourne studio for the call. Shaw has long held a career dream to call Le Tour de France, for which SBS sends a team to Europe.
A chance to call the Milan-San Remo - the longest professional one-day race in modern cycling - was the first major move on this pursuit.
The Giro is an important step up for Shaw and added reinforcement for Ballarat's sporting reputation on the big stage.
