Tour de France Betting Previews 2018
Houilles to Paris
Sunday 29th July, 116kms
The British and Germans had dominated on the Champs Élysées in recent years, with Gert Steegmans, the Belgian, the last man to strike a blow for the rest of the world in 2008, that was until Dylan Groenewegen struck for us last year on the final day!
Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle / Espelette
Saturday 28th July, 31kms
Just like last year, we have a time trial one stage from the finish. That TT was mostly flat but with a run up the Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille, this is a lot more lumpy in general, but has a similar climb of 900m at 10.2%.
Lourdes / Lauruns
Friday 27th July, 200.5kms
After a brief soujourn to the flatlands, this is a proper Pyrenéan stage with six categorised climbs that total 4,800m of altitude gain. But the winner might be the one who descends off the top of the Aubisque to Lauruns the fastest.
Trie-sur-Baïse / Pau
Thursday 26th July, 171kms
A brief pause in the climbing, a chance for the remaining sprinters to have a bit of fun before the pain and punishment resumes again the next day with a 200km killer to Lauruns.
Bag-de-Luchon / St-Lary-Soulan
Wed July 25th, 65kms
The shortest stage of the 2018 Tour de France, in fact the shortest regular stage of the Tour in the last 30 years. It may be only 65kms long, but they will spend 38kms of the 65kms going uphill.
TDF 2018 Stage 16
Carcassonne / Bag-de-Luchon
Tues 24th July, 218kms
Another 'transition' stage as we edge closer and closer to the Pyrenées, but this is a tough-looking stage that could be another one for the breakaway men, with the stages to come on the minds of the GC men.
TDF 2018 Stage 15
Millau / Carcassonne
Sunday 22nd July, 181.5kms
Another 'transition' stage, but this one has a really challenging course that could see it turning in to a great little stage, both for the stage win from a break, and possibly with some GC repurcussions.
St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux / Mende
Sat 21st July, 188kms
This is a similar profile to stage 14 to Rodez last year, in that it starts out pretty flat, but as the day goes on it gets hillier and higher, culminating in an uphill pull to the finish.
Bourg d'Oisans / Valence
Fri 20th July, 169.5kms
After three successive days in the Alps, the race heads back to the flatter terrain, to give the GC men a well-deserved rest and the sprinters their one and only chance to do something on this second week.
Bourg-St-Maurice / Alpe d'Huez
Thurs 19th July, 175.5kms
The Alpe is back! After a brief hiatus since 2015, they return to take on the famous 21 hairpins again on a savage day in the Alps. The last time the TDF came up the Alpe Thibaut Pinot soloed to victory, can the French win again?
Albertville / La Rosière
Wed 18th July, 108.5kms
A trend we've seen in a number of races recently is for shorter, punchier stages, as the fans want to see lots of attacking action from the gun, not four hours of boring rolling along like we saw a few times in the first week.
Annecy / Le Grand-Bornand
Tuesday 17th July, 158.5kms
After the drama of the cobbles on Sunday, the riders face an entirely different challenge today after their rest day, the first real mountains of the race with 158km trip over three Cat 1s and a HC climb.
Arras Citadelle / Roubaix
Sunday 15th July, 156.5kms
After a phoney war for a week, things get serious now. So serious could this stage be, that we've had all the GC contenders training over the cobbles on over the past 3 months or so, and some even raced on them.
Dreux / Amiens Métropole
Saturday 14th July, 181kms
This time last year they were climbing up to the Station des Rousses, and this stage couldn't be further from that sort of profile. Another flat, boring stage in store, one that only the sprinters are looking forward to.
Fougères / Chartres
Friday 13th July, 231kms
In 2004 Stuart O'Grady won the sprint for the stage win in Chartres, but it wasn't from a bunch sprint, but from a breakaway group that fought out the stage win. But it was more significant for someone who finished 4th on the day, Thomas Voeckler.
TDF 2018 Stage 6
Brest / Mûr de Bretagne
Thursday 12th July, 181kms
Back to the Mur de Bretagne, a stage finish that I remember fondly with a 1-2 in stage 8 in 2015, when Alexis Vuillermoz won for me at 33/1, with Dan Martin chasing him home in 2nd place.
TDF 2018 Stage 5
Lorient to Quimper
Wed. 11th July, 204.5kms
This is like a day in the Ardennes, with a tough, rolling course over 204kms, with five categorised climbs in total to test the GC men's mettle. After a long, tough day in the saddle they then have to take on a 4.8% climb for the last kilometre.
TDF 2018 Stage 4
La Baule / Sarzeau
Tues 10th July, 195kms
A trip to Sarzeau for the very first time in the TDF history? Why? Well monsieur Lappartient, the president of the UCI is the mayor of the town! And a more boring, and predictable sort of stage he couldn't have asked for.
TDF 2018 Stage 3
Cholet to Cholet
Monday 9th July, 35.5kms
It's only stage 3 but we could already see one of the defining stages of the final top 10 of this race, with a 35.5km Team Time Trial. We saw in the recent Critérium du Dauphiné how riders like Vincenzo Nibali and Dan Martin can lose more than 2 mins over a distance like this.
Who will be the top team?
The Team Classification was a very tight competition last year, with Team Sky beating AG2R in the end by only 7 minutes, but it was a lonnnngggg way back to Trek in 3rd place, almost two hours!
TDF 2018 Other Markets
A selection of other bets to think about!
My usual look at the weird and wonderful world of the other markets to bet on in the Tour de France. For once, there is a wide selection of bets to look at and there is often value to be found, if you dig around a little.
WIN A LUXURY POLO SHIRT !
I'm delighted to have teamed up with Niccolò P. for a giveaway of two luxury polo shirts worth up to £110 each.
King of the Mountains Preview
Last year's KOM battle was pretty much done and dusted early on, Warren Barguil took a bunch of points on stage 9 to Foix when he was in the break all day, and he never looked back.
Like the KOM jersey, this jersey was also introduced in 1975, and this competition has had various criteria over the years as to who were eligible to win it, but it is now just open to anyone who is under 26 years of age.
Who'll win the Green Jersey?
There was a major shock in this category last year when the 4/7 pre-race favourite Peter Sagan was unceremoniously booted out of the race after his coming together with Mark Cavendish on stage 4.
TDF 2018 - Favourites
A look at the main favourites chances
We have had two different favourites for this race over the last few months, with the nonsense of the is he/ isn't he going to (or be allowed to) ride the Tour..
Can anyone stop the top 3?
I have covered the favourites to win the 2018 Tour de France in this other preview already, now let's take a look at the best of the rest to try to find someone who could pull off a shock and land the big prize.
Tour de France 2018
Froome to huff and puff and blow them all away?
After an extraordinary Giro d'Italia we move on to the big one, the Grand Boucle, the Tour de France.. Can the Tour top the drama of the Giro?
Noir.-en-l'Île / Fntay-le-Comte
Saturday July 7th, 201km
The grand depart starts the 2018 Tour in the Vendee with a 200km run along the coast from Noirmoutier-en-l'Île to Fontenay-le-Comte. It should be a stage for the sprinters, but with coastal winds expected, we might see echelons!
M.-St-Germain / La Roche-sur-Yon
Sunday July 8th, 182.5km
The second stage looks like being another one for the sprinters, only there is slightly less of the boring build up with this stage being 19kms shorter. Will we see the same outcome though?
