The highly-anticipated 2021 Tour de France is underway and riders have begun racing their way to the finish line.
Sportsbooks favor Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar to defend his reign and walk away with a back-to-back title. However, books aren’t counting out fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic to give him a race to the top.
DraftKings Tennessee gives both cyclists +135 odds of pulling away with the gold.
Betting on the Tour de France
Cyclists from all over the world navigate their way through the rolling hills of France for three weeks, coming to an epic finish on Sunday, July 18 on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Options for wagering on the race are just about as widespread and vast as the Tour itself.
The most popular, straightforward way of betting on the Tour de France is by wagering on the outright winner.
For those looking for more daily action, players also have the option of betting on each individual stage. Bettors can wager on every stage as it unfolds, rather having to wait for the entire race to end to cash in on a bet. For instance, lines for Stage 4 are currently available, and odds for Stage 5 will become available once today’s stage has concluded.
DraftKings divides Tour De France wagering up into seven different markets:
- Outright Winner
- Stage Winner
- King Of The Mountains
- Place
- Points Classification
- Team Classification
- Young Rider Classification
- Top 10 Finish
Bettors can also wager on whether the winning margin of each stage will be either one second or less or two or more seconds.
Pogacar and Roglic prime contenders for Tour gold
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar is predicted to roll away with the Tour de France title once again in 2021. The energetic Pogacar has a shining grand tour record, finishing third at the Vuelta a Espana in 2019, then advancing to win his debut Tour in 2020.
The Slovenian won the race in 2020 while also sweeping general classification, mountains classification, and young rider’s classification at the same time. DraftKings gives the 22 year-old +135 odds of cruising into first place by the end of this race.
It won’t be an easy win for Pogacar, though. Plenty of cyclists are hot on his trail, including Primoz Roglic, who is gunning for gold. Sportsbooks also give Roglic +135 odds to cross the finish line first.
Roglic placed second last year and is the the second favorite this year. In 2020, the 31 year-old Slovenian wore yellow for almost two weeks before slipping into the middle of the pack in stage 20.
Now he has a chance to correct those pitfalls and return with a redemption victory. Roglic has been particular about his races leading up to the Tour, having not entered a race in over 60 days. Now in the early days of Tour competition, it seems as if he has been saving up his energy for Tour domination.
After two chaotic crashes in Stage 1 that took down major names like veteran rider Tony Martin and four-time Tour champion Chris Froome, new contenders emerged from the pack.
Mathieu van der Poel won Stage 2 with an impressive launch to the finish line at Mur-de-Bretagne, donning the yellow jersey for Stage 3. The Dutch cyclist crossed the finish line six seconds ahead of Pogacar, followed closely by Roglic and Wilco Kelderman.
Van der Poel’s lead during both ascents gave him the lead in the mountains classification, though DraftKings still only gives him +30000 odds of winning that market.
His impressive Stage 2 climb boosted his odds of winning the Tour to +15000. After Stage 3 those odds have increased once again to +10000.
Mishaps continue in Stage 3
Following Pogacar and Roglic in the sportsbook predictions is 2018 Welsh champ Geraint Thomas with +550 odds of reclaiming the gold.
Thomas got a rough start in Stage 3 when he took a tumble and popped his shoulder out of position. After a quick snap back into place, Thomas regained his three-minute deficit to rejoin the rest of the pack.
Following two stages of hilly terrain competition, the Tour moved to flat terrain for Stage 3. FanDuel had originally given Belgian racer Wout Van Aert the best odds of winning Stage 3 at +1200.
Field sprinters gave Van der Poel a run for his yellow jersey, but after a series of unfortunate crashes, Van der Poel pulled out ahead, beating out trailing cyclist Julian Alaphilippe by a full eight seconds.
Stage 4 presents another full day of flat racing, an area where Roglic and Thomas have traditionally excelled. Van der Poel will have to fight off the rest of the top dogs if he wants to maintain his yellow jersey. TwinSpires gives Tim Merlier +250 odds of winning the stage, followed by Mark Cavendish at +400.
| Cyclist | Odds |
|---|---|
| Tim Merlier | +250 |
| Mark Cavendish | +400 |
| Arnaud Démare | +450 |
| Jasper Philipsen | +900 |
| Wout Van Aert | +1000 |
| Mads Pedersen | +1400 |
| Cees Bol | +1600 |
| Peter Sagan | +1800 |
| Bouhanni, Nacer | +2500 |
| Sonny Colbrelli | +3300 |
Stage 5 then presents the first of two individual time trials, where Roglic traditionally excels.
As the terrain continues to fluctuate and weather conditions factor into this 2,121.6-mile, 21-day trek, there is plenty of opportunity for betting on the ever-changing action of the 2021 Tour de France.
