The Tour de France is the cycling
world’s crowning event. Even though Lance Armstrong ended up being a
disappointment, he provided the cycling world with a valuable asset—he managed
to capture the minds and hearts of the American population. Armstrong’s
performances during the Tour de France were the introduction many people had to
cycling as a sport.
Since then, the popularity of cycling
has fluctuated. In recent years, that popularity has been growing again. This
growth is partly fueled by an interest in betting on the Tour de France. Sports
betting has become incredibly popular in the United States, just like it is in
most European countries.
This article will break down
everything you need to know about how to bet on the 2025 Tour de France, from
choosing the right sportsbook for you to which types of bets are best suited to
this event.
The 2025 Tour de France
The 2025 Tour de France will begin in
Lille on July 5th.
The route will then wind its way west and south, reaching Peyragudes
on July 18th. The next stages will cross back to the east, with a rest day in
Montpellier. From there, the route will move north to finally finish in Paris
down the Champs-Élysées on July 27th.
As always, the Tour de France is made
up of regular race days and individual time trials. Unlike some routes, this
year will see an almost perfect balance between flat, hilly, and mountain
stages. This will also be the first year since 2020 that the route will be
entirely within France.
There will be eight new towns to the
Tour. These are Lauwin-Planque, Bayeux, Chinon, Ennezat, Le Mont-Dore Puy de
Sancy, Bollène, Vif, and Mantes-la-Ville. The highest point on the route will
be the Col de la Loze at 2,304 m.
The field is made up of 176 riders
across 22 teams. There are many returning cyclists aiming to improve on their
performances from previous years, as well as an impressive selection of young
riders competing for the white jersey.
Find a sportsbook
Finding a sportsbook that offers odds
on cycling is much easier now than it used to be before cycling caught
mainstream sporting attention. The first thing to always do is check the
licensing information for the sportsbooks you’re considering. Sportsbooks need
to be fully licensed by the appropriate licensing body in order to operate
legally, so this is very important.
Then, make sure the sportsbook offers
odds on the Tour de France and other cycling events. Before you start betting
on a major event like the Tour de France, it is a smart idea to place smaller
bets on events you’re less emotionally and mentally invested in.
Check the sportsbook accepts payment
methods you’re comfortable using. There should always be several reliable
payment methods, like bank/wire transfers, credit/debit cards, and standard
payment apps. Betting with cryptocurrency is also becoming popular but should
only be done if you’re already familiar with cryptocurrencies.
Reading reviews and gambling forum
discussions about the sportsbook is a helpful final step. These can give you an
insight into what the platform is like for regular bettors. Reviews on betting
guides may also have special bonuses for new bettors, which is a great way to
get started.
Place interesting bets
Betting on the Tour de France wouldn’t
be very interesting if you only placed a single bet on who you think will be
the overall winner. An event like the Tour de France, which has stages—multiple
types of events (mass-start stages, time trials, etc.), and multiple winning
jerseys (
yellow for the overall winner, polka dot for the king of the mountains, green for
sprints, and white for young riders)—is perfect for complex bets.
Complex bets are bets that let you
make several selections and place a range of bets to maximize the chances of
getting some return. They can be fairly simple, like a Trixie bet or a Double
bet. They can also be incredibly complex, like a Heinz bet which is made up of
57 different bets on 6 selections.
For those who are new to betting or
experimenting with complex bets, an odds calculator is a very useful tool. The
one at
AskGamblers works well and the site has links to other tools for
sports bettors.
Do your research
Before doing anything betting-related,
you should always do your research on the sport. This goes for cycling as well.
To place smart bets, you have to have a decent knowledge of the current
athletes, their stats, recent performances, and team dynamics.
For cycling fans, this is the most
enjoyable part of the process. Research can simply mean watching races, keeping
track of the outcomes of various cycling events, and reading insider interviews
with cyclists, trainers, and team personnel.
Some of the
upcoming
events to
keep an eye on before the Tour de France begins are the Milan-San Remo and the
Tour of Flanders. Paris-Roubaix also remains one of the most important races on
the calendar and has historically given fans a glimpse of how the Tour de
France may play out on a grander scale.
Final thoughts
Advertorial: Betting on the Tour de France is no
different from betting on any other sport. Online sportsbooks provide a
convenient way to bet while offering access to betting markets and odds that
would be more difficult to find at retail sportsbooks.
Just like with other sports, doing
your research and knowing the sport inside and out is key to placing smart
bets. They may not always pay out, but half the fun is learning everything
there is to know about the cyclists, this year’s terrain, and the teams
involved. The Tour de France is also an ideal time to try placing complex bets.