Punters have been having a good look at the Giro d’Italia Betting 2017 with the exhausting race underway. The Giro runs right through May 28th, 2017 and it takes in 21 stages for a total of 2,243 miles. 18 UCI World Teams are in attendance for the race with four wild card UCI Professional Continental teams getting to join in on the action. Each team running in the Giro d’Italia Betting 2017 are running with nine riders (aside from Astana who suffered the death of Michele Scarponi).
Homegrown talent Vincenzo Nibali is the one defending his title and the Giro makes up one of the legs of the big Grand Tours along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. Vincenzo Nibali was one of the strong front runners in Giro d’Italia Betting 2017 at Bet365 to take the title ahead of the start of the event but went on the drift to around 14/1 after failing to win any of the first ten stages of this year’s running and facing a serious challenge to get himself the pink jersey for the leader of the general classification.
It is Tom Dumoulin from the Netherlands who has dominated the first half of the Giro d’Italia Betting 2017. Dumoulin put in a telling ride in winning the tenth stage of the event, which saw him take over the lead from Nairo Quintana, who in turn had broken Bob Jungels’ possession of it over five stages of this year’s event. So that was a positive, positive move from Dumoulin who did not finish at last year’s Giro d’Italia, his first appearance at the race. But with his record in the Grand Tour events, he is probably going to be passed up by punters at a price of 6/4 to win the thing outright.
Colombia’s Nairo Quintana is still well within striking distance and is odds-on favourite to take the title at 8/11 with Bet365. He won the Giro back in 2014 and this is is his first time back since then. Quintana finished third in last season’s Tour de France before going on to win the Vuelta a Espana so is a man in form in the big events and has already taken a win in the Tirreno-Adriatico major stage race this season. Quintana is a specialist climber as well so will go from strength to strength in the Giro. On his way to winning the 2014 Giro, he won two of the last six stages, his big move coming in the 16th stage where he took the pink jersey and held it until the end.
Quintana is looking sharp and probably going to take some stopping in this one. You should see him coming on strong from stage 16 again where the difficulty levels go up and up on climbs. Britain’s Geraint Thomas took a crash on Sunday, but the Welshman responded with second place in the Time Trial on Tuesday, finishing behind Dumoulin. That crash on Sunday for Thomas, which saw Quintana take the lead in the overall classification on that 9th stage, really hampered his chances of getting in contention for the race title with his shoulder popping out. Sunday’s crash put Thomas a good five minutes behind the race leader and therefore his chances are gone because he went into second in second place overall.
Francesco Nibali is well positioned in the general classification to still mount a challenge for the race. The Italian is looking for his third Giro title having won it in 2013 and last year. Fifteen of the last twenty editions of the Giro d’Italia have been won by an Italian out of interest. It was a dramatic finish for Nibali last season, who only took over the pink jersey on the 20th stage of the race from Esteban Chaves. Steven Kruijswijk had held the lead from stages 14 through 18 prior to that. So it was a late charge from Nibali to seal the title and that was in stark contrast to his dominating ride in his 2013 title.
Back in 2013 the Italian got a hold of the pink jersey on stage 8 of the Giro and held it all the way to the final, winning three stages along the way. Nibali, who is a former Tour de France and Vuelta champion as well should be in the mix over the second half of the race as well. So there is plenty of life left yet in the Giro d’Italia Betting 2017 to go and both Quintana and Nibali could yet make moves. The other name in contention at the moment is Thibaut Pinot. The Frenchman has made a good impact in the first Giro of his career to stay in touch with the leaders at the halfway stage. Can he stick in there and pull off what would be a shock outcome?
Points Classification
You don’t have just the general classification, there are also other betting markets to have a crack at in Giro d’Italia Betting 2017. Points are awarded for placings in the daily stages, which has nothing to do with time gaps or anything. Just placement across the stages. Giacomo Nizzolo has won this for the last two years running but it is Fernando Gaviria who is looking a lock for this at the moment having held the lead since Stage 5 and he is 2/7 odds on to land the Points Classification 2017 with Jasper Stuyven at 7/2 with Bet365 the only main challenger.
Mountains Classification
Pierre Rolland and Omar Fraile are 13/2 joint-favourites at Bet365 to win the King of the Mountain with Mikel Landa at 3/1. You can take a look current leader at the halfway stage, Jan Polanc at a price of 14/1 and even the great Nairo Quintana at 9/1 to land it. There are some tough climbs to come from around stage 16 and that is when this market is going to get really lively. Mikel Landa is a 3/1 shot and you are probably going to want to skip the main runners in the Giro title race and go for someone longer priced. This is wide, wide open.
Young Rider Classification
Our money wouldn’t go much further than Bob Jungels who won this title last year by a country mile. He is already having a very good tour by Great Britain’s Adam Yates is in the mix at the halfway stage for this one, along with Jan Polanc and Italy’s Davide Formolo. But Jungels at a price of 2/1 with Bet365 is the one who has to be caught and he has been leading the general classification for five legs over the first half of this year’s Giro and can step it up. Formolo makes the best value behind him at 3/1.
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