Cycling Betting – Lance May Find Contador A Tough Nut To Crack

I once tried riding my bike to work every day. At that time, it was only about five miles along fairly flat roads. No problem, you would think to a relatively fit individual. Well let me tell you it’s a lot harder than it looks! I would arrive at the office in a sweat, thighs burning and my nerves shredded by too many near misses with trucks and buses. So I have enormous respect for the riders in the Tour de France, who this year have almost 3500km in the saddle to look forward to. This year’s Tour may well be one of the toughest ever with competitors beginning the race with a time trial around the steep streets of Monaco before heading off along the Cote d’Azur on the way to three mountain stages in the Pyrenees and a brief incursion into northern Spain. The northern Alps, Massif Central and mountains of the Vosges region will again pose their own particular problems and the peloton even have a summit ride over Mont Ventoux on the penultimate day before the traditional finish on the Champs Elysee. Such is the arduous schedule this year that it’s quite conceivable that the race may well have been whittled down to just a few genuine contenders within the first 10 days but almost certain to be in that group is Alberto Contador. His Astana team are the dominant force in professional road racing at present and the Spaniard, a best 11-10 with Paddy Power and William Hill, looks better equipped to cope with the mountains nowadays than team-mate Lance Armstrong (11-2 with Paddy Power). Contador is renowned as a first-rate climber and the 2007 Tour winner, who claimed the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana last year, has kept himself relatively fresh for this year’s Tour de France – he should take all the beating granted an accident-free ride. One danger, however, is Cadel Evans. Riding for the Belgian Silence team, the outspoken Australian came mightly close to winning the Tour last year, finishing less than a minute behind Carlos Sastre. There was, of course, no Astana riders last year, and there will always be a question mark over Evans, nickname Cuddles, temperament. But he is the type to grab the bull by the horns if things go his way in the early stages and at a general 10-1 is a better bet than most.