Post-Tour musings: Contador is No. 1

The conclusion of the Tour de France last Sunday marked the end of the 17th race on the 26-race Union Cycliste Internationale World Calendar, and the UCI have duly updated their World Rankings, to which relatively few people pay attention.

In case you're wondering who the best rider in the world is right now, according to the UCI it's Alberto Contador, who has defrocked reigning World Champion Cadel Evans. Meanwhile, those of you who follow artistic cycling will be pleased to know that the No. 1 riders in the men's pair category are Joachim and Fabian Allgäuer, and from what I've seen on YouTube they do indeed make a stunning duo.

Of course, the reason most people don't pay close attention to the UCI rankings is that public perception is far more entertaining than calculation, which is better suited to non-sporting endeavors such as tax preparation and baseball. In this case, though, public perception and raw data are in alignment, since your average layperson would probably assume that the guy who just won the most famous bicycle race in the world would also be ranked No. 1, and indeed he is. Similarly, the same layperson might assume that the team with the least attractive uniforms would be in last place, and indeed they are, for Footon-Servetto and their universally despised footprint kits currently languish at the bottom of the team ranking. This has dealt a serious blow to Danish foot-bed company Footon's quest to become the next Dr. Scholl's (the Alberto Contador of shoe inserts).

The next race on the World Calendar is the Clasica San Sebastian, which takes place this Saturday, but until then the cycling world is still focused on post-Tour analysis, recrimination, and speculation. In terms of analysis, Andy Schleck thinks he could have won if his brother Frank hadn't crashed out of the race, while Johan Bruyneel (who nobody asked in the first place) says he lost because his time trial position was a "disaster." As far as recriminations, the UCI has opened disciplinary actions against RadioShack for their little jersey stunt, and British Cycling feel that Team Sky's mediocre Tour performance has come at the expense of their renowned Olympic track program. In the speculation department, Alberto Contador did not renew his contract with Astana at the end of the Tour as expected. Some think he will join Bjarne Riis, who is losing the Schlecks -- though I hope he will shock the world by joining Footon-Servetto, and that we will see that giant foot atop the Tour de France podium in 2011.

In any case, Astana management is unconcerned and it plans to replace Contador with Alexandre Vinokourov's ego.