Beginner’s Guide to Gambling on Cycling Events

Advertorial: Whether you’re new to cycling or just new to betting on the sport, the world of cycling is a fascinating realm. It’s all about grit, determination, and, most importantly, stamina. There are time trials that are the traditional distances of 5 km to 40 km, like running races, and then there are single-day and multi-day races that span hundreds of kilometers.

While riders typically compete individually, it might surprise you to learn that there are team dynamics at play as well. Cycling events, such as the team sprint or team pursuit at the Olympics, insert a collaborative element into the sport, just like doubles matches in tennis or relay races in swimming. And that dynamic, in turn, shapes the way the sport is presented in betting.

Maybe you like to try your luck on all the sports available on your favorite betting app, or perhaps you’ve recently adopted cycling as a new hobby—whichever category you fall into, there’s no time like the present to start betting on some exciting cycling events.

The most common and often the only bet you can place on most cycling events is on the ante-post winner. As there aren’t bet types like goals scored or point spreads like in football or soccer, it often just comes down to who wins the race. ‘Ante-post’ is a term typically seen in sports involving a race—horse racing, cycling, F1 racing, and so on. It refers to betting on the outcome of the event before it even begins.

Other than the ante-post or outright winner, there might also be the opportunity to bet on stage winners (the cyclist who wins each individual stage), on points classification (King of the Mountains: which cyclist earns the most points), or on whoever gets awarded Best Climber or another classification.

Chances are you’ve probably heard of the world’s most famous cycling event: the Tour de France. After all, it has existed since 1903 and gained notoriety as a highly demanding three-week cycling event. Each cyclist covers 2,200 miles of challenging mountain stages and flat and rolling stages, all whilst being part of a broader team. It’s such a great test of athleticism that you’ll see questions all over Google asking whether participants sleep, how they use the bathroom, and what they eat.

Why do we mention this? Because big events such as this one often come with some exciting specials, depending on the betting platform. For example, BetMGM has bets on how many individual stages certain cyclists will win and whether a rider from a particular country will win at least one stage.

Novice cycling gamblers usually approach their wagers similarly to how online gamblers would seek out low deposit casinos to play with smaller amounts. Especially if you aren’t overly familiar with the athletes that compete in these events, it’s recommended to start slow instead of biting more off than you can chew.

Just like you wouldn’t place a $100 bet on a random player hitting a hole-in-one during the PGA tour if you’re not a golf fan, you probably wouldn’t place hundreds on cyclist Christophe Laporte to win a stage if you have no idea who he is.

Although gambling is quite literally a gamble, there are a lot of considerations that can refine your strategy and make your bets well-informed. A useful place to begin is looking at the rider’s past and current performance. Are they consistent? Or do they do better in certain conditions or terrain types? Particularly with major events, you can research the route profile, which will tell you whether there are any big climbs to tackle or more flat sections. That way, if the cyclist you’re thinking of betting on hasn’t been historically great with hill cycling, you might want to reconsider.

There’s also the health aspect of sports—a quick Google search may tell you if a rider is dealing with an injury or recovering from an illness. If they happen to be in any of these states, they might not be able to perform at their best and might not live up to the expectations of their odds.

As mentioned earlier, there can also be team dynamics at play that affect the performance of your chosen cycler and, consequently, the race outcome. It’s worth brushing up on your knowledge of team tactics and how teams operate in general by investigating past race performances with this context in mind.

The more you know about a sport, its constituents, and its players, the more effective your bets will become. Luckily, there are plenty of tools and resources you can use to learn and stay updated with the latest news.

The most obvious places to look include YouTube channels and cycling podcasts, which will give you recent analysis and discussion on current cycling events. These forms of media might feature interviews with coaches, riders, and analysts or even a detailed look into certain performances. Similarly, cycling magazines and news websites often boast a wide range of informative articles that provide insights on team dynamics and recaps.

Want to go deeper into the cycling trenches? Race archives reveal the information you need to analyze past performances, course layouts, trends, and patterns that could completely transform your betting strategy. Meanwhile, complementary statistical analysis tools can take your plan of action a step further, providing charts and graphs that display those correlations and trends.

And you don’t have to do this alone either. Betting communities allow you to engage with fellow cycling enthusiasts and discuss race predictions and exciting bets you feel confident about. It’s a fantastic way to broaden your horizons and find potential in bets you hadn’t thought