2018 Tour De France Favorites
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Tour de France; Giro DItalia; Tour of Flanders; Free Bets £1500+ of Free Bet Offers Get Offers. Cycling Betting Odds. Grand Tours; Tour de France View League; Giro DItalia View League; One Day Races; Tour of Flanders View League; Strade Bianche View League; Paris. Brussels (AFP) - The 2019 Tour de France embarks from Brussels on Saturday with a mountain-packed course and a more open field than in recent editions. Geraint Thomas is the winner of Tour de France 2018, before Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome. Alexander Kristoff is the winner of the final stage. Team Sky has been the winner in five of the last six Tour de France runs. Individually Chris Froome has a three-year winning streak. And he has won four of the last five. As a result, he will be a top betting odds for cycling favorite. Four cyclists are tied as the All-Time Tour de France winners with five championships. They are Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain. Tom Dumoulin is the winner of Tour de France 2018 Stage 20 (ITT), before Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas. Geraint Thomas was leader in GC.
Pro cycling plans to return in August with the Tour de France running August 29-September 30. This story ran in the June issue of VeloNews magazine.
What do you think?
Andrew Hood @eurohoody: It’s not a question of if cycling wants to resume, but rather, should it. The hosts of the season’s three grand tours — Italy, France, and Spain — have seen among the highest COVID-19 fatalities in the world, with nearly 80,000 deaths between the three nations by early May. The virus has especially been devastating for the elderly, and will continue to be so until there is either effective treatment or a vaccine. A grand tour could morph into a three-week, rolling infection-train across the world’s most impacted nations if the races are not hermetically sealed. True, the pandemic has revealed just how tenuous the economic ecosystem is for teams and races. Without the Tour, many will likely fold. Yet short-term economic interests of cycling should not take precedence over larger public health concerns. Ultimately, it will be governments and health authorities who will make the final decision. The Tour de France can wait if it’s necessary to save lives.
James Startt: I think that it is important to have a plan for the sport. Obviously it all depends on the evolution of the coronavirus and even this new schedule could fall by the wayside if there are repeated waves of the illness. But it is not unreasonable to imagine that in three months time some modest races could be held and in four months time the Tour itself. And one thing is clear, all actors in the sport, be it the riders, teams, race organizers, media and sponsors, would benefit with a return to racing. If we could have even a short season with say the Tour de France, the world championships and some classics, then that would set the sport up for a solid return in 2021. If it doesn’t happen, well, 2021 could get off to a tentative start. And the one thing that has struck me is the unanimous desire to hold the Tour de France if at all possible. Sure, a lot of other races stand to lose out. But the sport of cycling possesses the single greatest annual sporting event in the world, and it only makes sense to make that the foundation and focus of the 2020 season.
Fred Dreier @freddreier: The UCI’s plan to bring back cycling confirmed the priorities of our sport’s power brokers; it did not become an opportunity to rethink the sport and correct problems that have been nagging it for years. The Tour de France received the best calendar spot and its announcement came out well before any other races were confirmed. The other races and the entire women’s WorldTour were then given attention, but only after Le Tour got what it wanted. And the calendar that has been produced is reflective of the Tour’s outsized importance. The Giro d’Italia conflicts with every major one-day classic, while the Tour is scheduled without conflict. Thus, the Tour de France in 2020 is likely to only gain in its importance over the whole sport. Like many cycling fans, I was hoping that this time away would give the sport some time to reflect on its shortcomings and to develop some strategies around equality. With the Tour getting special treatment, I can see that this was not the case.
Cyclists from all over the globe are racing in one of the most challenging competitions in sports — the Tour de France.
The 105th Tour de France kicks off Saturday, July 7 in Noirmoutier en l’Île, a scenic, coastal town in western France. The 22 teams, which each have nine racers, will cycle the 21-stage race that spans a total of 2,082.2 miles and tours almost all of France. The last stage of the 2018 Tour de France ends in Paris on Sunday, July 29.
According to the organizers, 3.5 billion people in 190 countries tune in to watch the Tour de France each year and it is one of the best-attended annual sporting event on the planet, with 12 million roadside spectators cheering on cyclists.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2018 Tour de France, including important dates, how to watch the races and who this year’s favorites are.
When does the 2018 Tour de France start?
This year, the Grand Départ starts around 10 a.m. local time in Noirmoutier en l’Île on July 7.
The 22 starting teams will cycle through most of France and make a pitstop in Spain before finishing in Paris on Sunday, July 29.
There will be two rest days, one individual time trial, a team time trial and three mountain finishes.
Who are the 2018 Tour de France favorites?
Four-time Tour de France champ, Christopher Froome, is the favorite to take home the title this year after winning the 2017 race. The British rider, who is part of Team Sky, will face heavy competition from Movistar team member Nairo Quintana and Richie Porte from BMC Racing.
Froome nearly didn’t compete this year after organizers announced he would be banned for suspected doping — a problem that has plagued the sports world, most notably affecting cycling with Lance Armstrong’s downfall. But Froome was cleared of any wrongdoing and will be going for his fifth Tour de France win.
There will be 176 riders total from countries all over the world including five Americans cycling in the 2018 Tour de France.
How can I watch the 2018 Tour de France?
The 2018 Tour de France will be broadcast live on NBC or NBCSN and and NBC Sports Gold with commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin.
You can also watch the competition through the Tour Tracker App, a free app that lets users livestream stages of the race and get push notifications on their phones for their favorite cyclists.
2019 Tour De France Favorites
What is the 2018 Tour de France schedule?
The 2,082-mile race will be divided into 21 stages, with cyclist riding through Fougères, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteuax and Houilles in France.
During the three-week race, cyclists will ride on a variety of challenging routes including hills, high mountains and dust-covered roads before finishing in Paris at the end of the month.
Each of the 21 stages has a distinctive set of challenges for cyclists. Kicking off on Île de Noirmoutier, a small island off the Atlantic coast of France, cyclists will cross a bridge to the mainland while navigating the twisting Vendée coastline.
Stage 9 is expected to be a fan favorite because of its complexities. On July 15, cyclists will ride through 15 cobbled paths from Arras to Roubaix, alongside the Belgian border. The bumpy ride can be dangerous for competitors, and is where a fall is most likely to happen — dashing hopes of victory.