The 2022 Tour de France (Grand Boucle) begins this Friday, July 1st in Copenhagen, Denmark and wraps up over three weeks later in Paris, France on Sunday, July 24th. The 109th edition of the bicycle road race, which was first held in 1903, takes place in 21 day-long stages throughout Denmark, France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia enters the event as the reigning champion but the two-time consecutive winner still has along way to go to equal the record of five Tour de France victories which is shared by Maurice Garin, Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault of France along with Eddy Merckx of Belgium and Miguel Indurain of Spain.
The race’s format remains the same even though its route changes on a yearly basis. This means the event features time trials, passage through the Pyrenees and Alps mountain ranges and comes to a conclusion on Paris’ Champs-Elysees.
The 23-day race covers approximately 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) and alternates between clockwise and counterclockwise circuits. The event typically features 20 to 22 teams with each squad consisting of eight cyclists. Each of the 21 stages is timed with the cyclist with the lowest total finishing times after each stage wearing the famous yellow jersey as the race’s leader. This year’s event includes six flat stages along with two time trials and five summit finishes.
The Tour de France consists of several different classifications with the main competition being known as the general classification. The other major competitions within the race include classifications for mountains, points and young cyclists.
The mountains classification is the second-oldest of the event as it originated in 1933. Points are awarded to the top-10 cyclists during stages which contain climbs. Each climb is classified according the length and steepness of the hill or mountain with more points awarded for tougher climbs. The leader of the mountains classification wears a white jersey with red polka dots. The cyclist with the most climbing points as the end of the Tour de France is named the winner of the mountains classification.
The points classification was introduced in 1953 making it the third-oldest of the classifications. In this instance, the first 15 cyclists to complete a stage of the race are awarded with points. In addition, points are also awarded to the first 15 cyclists who cross a “sprint” point in each stage. The points leader after each stage wears a green jersey to begin the next stage. The number of points a cyclist is awarded depends on the type of terrain the stage includes and the winner of the points classification is the cyclist with the most accumulated points at the end of the Tour de France.
The Tour de France’s young rider classification is determined the same way the general classification is. This means the cyclist with the lowest accumulative times after each stage is recognized as the leader and wears a white jersey. However, the difference here is that the classification is open only for for cyclists who are under 26 years of age and it was first introduced in 1975.
When it comes to the nationality of the Tour de France general classification winners, France leads the way with 36 victories followed by Belgium with 18, Spain at 12, Italy with 10, Great Britain at 6, Luxembourg with 4, The USA at 3, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Slovenia with 2 each and Ireland,
Denmark, Germany, Australia and Colombia each with 1.
Cyclists to watch in this year’s Tour de France general classification include Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard and Aleksandr Vlasov.
Tadej Pogacar
The 23-year-old Slovenian won a bronze medal at the last Olympic Games in the road race event and has won every stage race he’s cycled in this season including the Tour of Slovenia, UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico, Pogacar is aiming for his third straight Tour de France victory.
Primoz Roglic
Roglic captured the 2020 Tokyo, Olympic time-trial gold medal but had to abandon last year’s Tour de France due to a crash. The former ski jumper recently won the Criterium du Dauphine.
Jonas Vingegaard
The 25-year-old Vingegaard of Denmark finished last year’s Tour de France as runner-up. This season, he has placed second at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Criterium dy Dauphine.
Aleksandr Vlasov
The native of Russia is racing under a neutral flag this year due to the ongoing conflict between his homeland and Ukraine. Vlasov recently won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and the Tour de Romandie. In addition, he was leading the Tour of Suisse when he had to pull out due to testing positive for Covid 19.
The latest bet365 odds list Tadej Pogacar as the favorite to be crowned the overall general classification winner of this year’s Tour de France at -150. He’s followed by Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic at +400 with Geraint Thomas at +1200, Aleksandr Vlasov at +1600 and Daniel Martinez at +2000.
For a complete list of cyclists and their odds please visit: https://www.bet365.com/#/AC/B38/C20759231/D1/E62810388/F2/
Don’t forget, there are several other popular Tour de France bets to wager on at bet365 including points classification, mountains classification, young rider classification, team classification, match-ups, to finish in top 3, number of stage wins and top-10 finish etc.