Riis signs Contador, thumbs nose at Schlecks.

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Riis signs Contador, thumbs nose at Schlecks.

Welcome to Denmark, Alberto.

Revenge is a dish best eaten with tapas and Spanish sangria.

Ole for Bjarne Riis, the man who runs Saxo Bank just pulled off the coup of the year, signing Alberto Contador to replace the departing Brothers Schleck. How sweet is that, you ask?

I would almost bet my life savings that when Riis inked that deal, he went home, put on the classic 70’s Donna Summer disco track Love to Love You Baby and danced around the room naked. He had just survived the Scleckodus and the death of Saxo and instead come out even stronger than before.

The man was jumping up and down, punching the air, and working his jazz dance moves. Having spent no time in Denmark, I can say for a fact that Danes don’t dance. They walk slowly, heads down, pensively thinking of the impending dark, cold, interminable winters and the high price of vodka.

Bjarne is back with a new Pistolero and life is even better than Schleck. This puts the whole chaingate story in a new and ironic light. When it happened, Andy’s stomach was “full of anger.” However, if you recall, Riis wasn’t near as emotionally worked up, saying “Fair play or not, it’s hard to tell. He (Contador) waited a bit at the beginning, then, I don’t know.”

Oh yes, he did know: Riis didn’t want to say anything critical about Alberto because negotiations with Contador were already in progress with Specialized as the epoxy. Out with the Luxembourgers, in with the Spanish and back in yellow for Saxo.

We’re already picturing a scene from the 2011 Tour de France. Schleck has a mechanical or a crash and Alberto gets on the radio to Riis in the team car. “Should I wait or keep going?” Twisted Spoke thinks Riis is going to have a big fat grin on his face. Go, Alberto, go.

Revenge is sweet. Ask Bjarne.

By |2019-02-03T16:25:18-08:00August 3rd, 2010|Alberto Contador, Saxo Bank, Tour de France|2 Comments

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  1. RW August 3, 2010 at 10:47 pm - Reply

    “Schleckodus” and “epoxy”! Marvelous writing!

    BTW, I’m an American presently travelling in Spain with my family and the Schleck/Contador story remains the hot topic.

    Lance who??

    • walshworld August 4, 2010 at 4:19 pm - Reply

      Hey RW, thanks for checking in. Yup, I don’t doubt that’s still big news and it will be next year too. Matt

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