Tour de France betting tips: Preview and best bets for cycling Classic

Cycling betting tips: Tour de France

1pt e.w. Adam Yates to win Tour de France at 28/1 (Betway, Betfred 1/4 1,2,3)

3pts Mark Cavendish to win 1+ stage at 2/1 (Unibet)

3pts Richard Carapaz to win 1+ stage at 7/4 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Following on from the Tadej Pogacar show in the Giro d’Italia where he won by 9 minutes and 56 seconds over his nearest rival, we head to Firenze, Italy for the Grand Depart of the biggest cycling race on the calendar, le Tour de France.

In this year’s edition, the riders will cover 3,492 kilometres with 52,302 metres of climbing across five summit finishes, two rolling mountain stages, six hilly stages, six flat stages, and two time-trials. In what promises to be an exciting three weeks of racing, let's take a closer look into some contenders and standout bets.

It’s fair to say that luck hasn’t been on the side of Team Visma Lease a Bike this year. Wout van Aert suffered a serious fall in Dwars door Vlaanderen, which ruled him out of the biggest cobbled classics races and the Giro d’Italia.

Furthermore, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard suffered a horrific crash at Itzulia Basque Country, both riders arriving at this year’s race with form unknown. Super domestique Sepp Kuss misses out due to COVID.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. American Matteo Jorgenson has had a positive impact on the team this year after signing from Movistar, winning both Paris-Nice and Dwars door Vlaanderen and most recently finishing runner-up at Criterium du Dauphine.

He’ll provide Vingegaard the close protection that he needs and it will be a crucial first week for Vingegaard. Other teams may decide to test his fitness early doors in stages one, four and nine.

Nevertheless, should Jonas respond well, he will only become stronger heading into weeks two and three of the race and cannot be dismissed. A podium finish would be a good result given the injuries sustained early in the year but don't rule anything out.

Primoz Roglic makes his grand tour debut for BORA-Hansgrohe after signing from Visma Lease a Bike. It was a slow start to 2024 for Roglic, finishing 10th at Paris-Nice before crashing out at Itzulia Basque Country.

He returned to form when clinging onto overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphine. Roglic arrives at the Tour supported by 2022 Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley and notable domestique Aleksandr Vlasov.

It would be a fairytale ending for the Slovenian to win the Maillot Jaune after missing out at the 2020 Tour de France on the penultimate stage. A victory here would place him in elite company as one of the few riders to win all three grand tours. That said, I don’t think he’ll be able to match Pogacar. I’ve just not seen enough this year to convince me he’ll be on the podium come end of July.

INEOS Grenadiers arrive at this year’s race with multiple chances and cards to play. Last year’s fourth-placed Carlos Rodriguez looks to lead the team with help from 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and Laurens de Plus, who will be on domestique duties.

2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal is coming back to form after his life-threatening crash in 2022. A top-10 in the General Classification for the Columbian would be a fantastic result.

2022 Alp d’Huez hero Tom Pidcock arrives with his own General Classification ambitions, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out with three potential GC riders on the team.

Pogacar meanwhile aims to be the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to complete the Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double in Team UAE Emirates' bid to regain the Maillot Jaune from Team Visma Lease a Bike and Vingegaard.

Lining up alongside Pogacar in one of the strongest Grand Tour rosters is last year’s third and 2024 Tour de Suisse winner Adam Yates, 2024 Tour de Suisse runner-up and 2023 Giro d’Italia podium finisher Joao Almeida, and 2023 Vuelta a Espana fourth and young Spanish talent, Juan Ayuso.

With such depth, Yates, Almeida, Paval Sivakov, Marc Soler will all help in the mountains while Tim Wellens and Nils Politt will play a key part in protecting Pogacar on the flat. He rightly starts as odds-on favourite with so much in his favour.

The only doubt is that no rider has completed the Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double since 1998, but with such a strong team, there is no reason why Pogacar can’t win, and it will take something special to beat him on current form.

Yates can Podium again

Last year’s third place ADAM YATES enters this year’s Tour de France in fine form after an impressive victory at Tour de Suisse, winning two stages and finishing second in three others. Yates ran out a comfortable winner, 22 seconds ahead of teammate Almeida, and just over three minutes better than third place Mattias Skjelmose.

The Bury-born rider will once again play a key role as Pogacar’s right hand mountain domestique, ahead of Almeida and Ayuso in a scarily dominant mountain train.

Should anything happen to Pogacar at any point across the three weeks in his attempt to do the Giro-Tour double, Yates is bang in-form and will be the next rider up for Team UAE Emirates in their bid to regain the Yellow Jersey.

With question marks over the form of Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel's third week Grand Tour form still doubtful and Roglic opposable, on current form Yates is the value play each-way at 28/1.

• CLICK HERE to back Yates with Sky Bet

Cavs last dance take two

It wasn’t to be for MARK CAVENDISH in 2023 in pursuit of chasing Tour de France stage win number 35. Cavendish went close last year in stage 7 when finishing second, having looked the winner 300 metres out before gearing malfunction ruined all chances.

Had that malfunction not occurred I think he would have cruised to victory and gained that elusive win. The following stage it went from bad to worse for Cavendish when he crashed and broke his collarbone, forcing him to abandon the 2023 race.

Ahead of 2024, Astana Qazaqstan Team have recruited Cavendish's old lead out man, Danish powerhouse Michael Morkov to help get the job done. The Manx Missile is looking back to his best this year, with victories at Tour of Columbia and Tour of Hungary an encouraging sign.

With six flat stages on offer for pure sprinters in this year’s edition, I’m backing Cavendish, with the help of long-time friend Morkov, to roll back the years and achieve the record-breaking 35th Tour de France Stage win.

• CLICK HERE to back Cavendish to win 1+ Stage with Sky Bet

Richard Carapaz to complete grand tour stage win trilogy

Last year, RICHARD CARAPAZ's Tour de France never got going, crashing on the opening stage. He'll have felt hard done by and will arrive this year with something to prove.

Having already won a stage at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana, a stage win at the Tour de France is the last remaining grand tour stage the Ecuadorian needs.

The 31-year-old rider has plenty of experience in grand tours. He won the Giro d’Italia in 2019, claimed three stage wins at the 2022 Vuelta a Espana and finished third in the 2021 edition of the Tour de France.

The EF Education-Easypost rider has showed good form this year, most notably winning the queen stage at Tour de Romandie before a small crash halfway through Tour de Suisse has hindered his preparation.

Using the first week as a slow build-up, I think we will see Carapaz attacking from week two onwards when we enter his favoured terrain of the mountains.

With five mountain-top finishes on offer, Carapaz can finally add a Tour de France stage win to his impressive record and complete the grand tour trilogy of stage wins.

• CLICK HERE to back Carapaz to win 1+ Stage with Sky Bet

Posted at 1615 BST on 26/06/24

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