The gruelling test of endurance that is the Tour de France starts on July 7th and once again all of the attention will be on Chris Froome. He is the defending champion and winner of the last three editions. That’s four titles that he has earned during his career and if he gets it again this year then he will join some elite names holding the joint record of five Tour de France wins, namely Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
This year’s edition has Chris Froome as the 5/4 favourite with bet365* (Betting Odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 9:11 p.m.) and it’s hard to ignore that really considering that he produced that stunning show at the Giro D’italia this year. Froome claimed the title there for the first time ever in his career and giving him a win at each of the Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana). Froome has now won five of the last eight Grand Tour editions. Will be in the winners’ circle again?
Tour de France 2018 Winner Odds
Chris Froome 5/4
Richie Porte 17/4
Nairo Quintana 8/1
Mikel Landa 10/1
Vincenzo Nibali 10/1
Romain Baret 14/1
Geraint Thomas 16/1
Tom Dumoulin 16/1
Jakob Fuglsang 20/1
Primoz Roglic 22/1
Adam Yates 251
Alejandro Valverde 33/1
Rigoberto Uran 33/1
Bar 50/1
* (betting odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 10:22 pm)
The 2018 Course
This year’s edition starts on the island of Noirmoutier and it will finish with the iconic Champs-Elysees stage on July 29th. Across the Grand Tour, there will be a total of 176 riders starting out among the 22 taking part. This is a reduction as the number of riders on a team have been reduced to 8 from 9. The Tour de France 2018 is over 21 stages and this is the shortest edition of the race this century. Most of this summer’s edition will be held in France mostly with just a tiny short burst into Spain when the race makes it to the Pyrenees.
This is a tough course with pretty much no let up. The star attractions of the Alpe d’Huez and the Col du Tourmalet, which are the most historic climbs in the history of the Tour de France are both being used this year. There will also be a new feature as well because there will be unpaved roads, on the Plateau de Glieres and that surface hasn’t been used for over 60 years.
Points Classification Winner Odds*
Peter Sagan 4/9
Fernando Gaviria 10/3
Dylan Groenewegen 6/1
Arnaud Demare 9/1
Marcel Kittel 16/1
Michael Matthews 20/1
Mark Cavendish 28/1
Andre Greipel 28/1
Alexander Kristoff 50/1
Bar 80/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 9:11 p.m.)
The Main Contenders
Chris Froome is the king of the Tour de France and after his triumphant Giro d’Italia then he is going to take some stopping again here. The things is that he is up against the usual crowd which he has seen off time and time again and there is no reason to think that this year is going to be anything different. Froome is surrounded by such a strong team and throw in his own personal talent on top then you have a winning combination. Just back at the Giro Froome had a bit of a difficult start, but he pulled it all together in one stunning stage and ran away with the title. That is the power that he has. All of the doping situation over the asthma drug salbutamol is over, as he was cleared by both the Tour and the ASO (the organisers of the Tour de France) to take part.
Tom Dumoulin looked primed to throw down a serious challenge to Chris Froome at the Giro this year and he did just that. For many, with the doubts surrounding the focus of Froome in the race, Dumoulin was the favourite. He started off well with a win in the individual time trial in the first stage but he just missed out on any important stage wins during the rest of the race and couldn’t keep touch with Froome, finishing 46 seconds behind the Brit. Dumoulin has always been stronger at the Giro than in any of the other Grand Tours though and hasn’t had a serious finish at the Tour de France. The Dutch rider is at 3/1 odds for a top three finish* (Betting Odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 9:11 p.m.).
Porte is Froome’s biggest threat?
So Richie Porte, a former teammate of Froome, will be the one who will be seen as Froome’s serious challenger at the 2018 Tour de France. The Australian took a fifth-place finish at the 2016 edition of the race and is pretty seasoned at all of this. To be fair though when you stand his record up against that of Froome, it’s not even in the ball park. He did win this year’s Tour de Suisse and came second in the Tour Down Under. He is going to have to step up his game though to seriously get in contention and needs a strong start to get some wind in his sails.
Nairo Quintana’s most recent Grand Tour win was at the Vuelta in 2016 and the Colombian will be looking to keep up a great record that he has at the Tour de France. From his four previous appearances at the Tour, he has taken two second places, one third and his twelfth place finish from last season. He will be a threat and somewhat fresher than Froome because he took a pass on the 2018 Giro and the 2017 Vuelta. Has yet to take any kind of win this year and was third behind Porte at the Tour de Suisse this year and is at 7/4 odds to finish in the top three* (Betting Odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 9:11 p.m.).
Spanish Team makes big move
Team Movistar are going big for the Tour de France as they are launching a three-man attack on Froome. They are teaming up Alejandro Valverde and Mikel Landa alongside Nairo Quintana to try and break Froome’s dominance at the race. Landa is an interesting one because he is priced well here and he was part of the Sky team that helped out Froome so much on his title run last year. So will he be able to step out of that shadow and go toe to toe with his old teammate? Or will he play a strong supporting role to help Quintana into contention? Spaniard Landa just missed out on third place in last year’s Tour de France by a single second.
Young Rider Classification Odds*
Egan Bernal 11/8
Pierre-Roger Latour 15/8
Guillaume Martin 5/1
David Gaudu 11/1
Tiesj Benoot 11/1
Marc Soler 12/1
Daniel Martinez 16/1
Antwan Tolhoek 28/1
Bar 100/1
Other contenders
There is Simon Yates at 25/1 odds* (Betting Odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 9:11 p.m.) which leaves him as each way value. Yates went out of the gates so well at the Giro, winning three stages before falling away. He just could not close out the deal and he really started to crack on the 18th stage. He is such a promising rider and was seventh overall in last season’s Tour de France where he won the Young Rider Classification. Former Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali is back for another crack at the tournament but we haven’t seen quite enough form from him to suggest that he is going to be in the picture, so too Romain Bardet. He’s a solid rider, but lacking the overall punch to upset the likes of Froome and Porte.
King of the Mountain Winner Odds*
Warren Barguil 10/3
Mikel Landa 11/2
Thomas De Gendt 10/1
Nairo Quintana 12/1
Primoz Roglic 12/1
Rafal Majka 14/1
Chris Froome 16/1
Adam yates 20/1
Daniel navarro 22/1
Pierre Rolland 25/1
David Gaudi 28/1
Lilian Calmejane
Bar 33/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from July 6th, 2018 at 9:11 p.m.)
Tour de France 2018 Prediction
It will be so interesting to see what the Movistar team can produce, less so with veteran Valverde, but with Landa and Quintana. They got team tactics wrong in the recent Tour de Suisse it has to be said which allowed BMC’s Porte to really flourish there. Froome unquestionably is the one to catch and were are backing him in our Tour de France 2018 tournament. However, watch for Landa and Quintana.
