Saxo, sandwiches, and sons

After much speculation, Tour de France winner and inventor of the "fingerbang" victory salute Alberto Contador has surprised pretty much nobody by announcing that he will ride in thrall to Saxo Bank director Bjarne Riis, who will lose Frank and Andy Schleck in 2011.

So excited is Riis with his new acquisition that he has even announced his intention of pulling off the mythical cycling "Grand Slam," which entails winning all three Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a Espana) in the same year. In so doing, Riis seems like a man who is way too excited about his brand-new Porsche and does a big burnout as he leaves the dealership. Since nobody has ever pulled off a Grand Tour before (including the great Eddy Merckx, whose palmarès lacks only the Miss Arkansas Pageant), it remains to be seen whether Riis will wear out his new Contador prematurely-or, even worse, wrap him around a tree on the way home.

Meanwhile, fresh off yet another retirement, Lance Armstrong is expected to announce details of a Tour of Colorado stage race for 2011, and in advance of this announcement the Denver Post reports that the event will be sponsored by the Quiznos sandwich chain (read more). The race will be called the Quiznos Pro Challenge, and will almost certainly draw top cycling talent to Colorado-as well as top competitive eating talent who have been confused by the name and think it's a sandwich eating contest. The precursor to the Quiznos Pro Challenge is the Coors Classic, which ran until 1988, and which inspired the 1985 feature film "American Flyers" starring Kevin Costner. (Costner was snubbed at the Oscars that year, but his moustache was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.)

One rider who made his mark on the Coors Classic was Davis Phinney, and today marks the official pro debut of his son, individual pursuit world champion Taylor Phinney, who will ride for RadioShack at the Tour of Denmark. Indeed, Davis Phinney won the final Coors Classic overall, and it would be fitting if his son were to win the first Tour of Colorado next year.