I know the buzz right now is news that Alberto Contador is looking to skate from a positive result for Clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France. Looks like the Spanish Cycling Federation/The Good Buddies Club strikes again! But what I was also thinking about was Taylor Phinney’s debut in the BMC colors at the Tour of Oman.

As a junior racer I had posters of my cycling heroes hung in my room. There is one photo that I will always remember – shot from the front and looking like he’d just been called to the start line is Davis Phinney. He’s casually sitting on the top tube of his Huffy/Serotta, leaning forward and in a pose that looks like Rodin’s “The Thinker.” His biceps bulge as his thumb props up his chin. Phinney’s iridescent Oakley Factory Pilot glasses give him a look like he was going to destroy the competition and then take their women. It was bad ass. I’m pretty sure I went out and bought Factory Pilots just because of that photo.

Whenever my buddies and I were staging for a race, my buddies and I would jokingly try to emulate Davis’ “The Thinker” pose knowing full well there was no way we could ever pull off that “look.” The man has won more races than any American pro – 328 in all. Yeah, wrap your head around that fact.

Starting tomorrow Mini-Phinney lines up at the Tour of Oman and I can’t wait to see him race. With parents like Davis and Connie it is a hard legacy to live up to and I’m hoping team management has the good sense to take their time with him. By the looks of his reported four-year contract BMC seems prepared to do just that. I just hope he remembers to do “The Thinker” in homage to his father.