A Look at the Tour de France for Online Betting Enthusiasts

The Tour de France is probably the best known and most closely followed cycling race in the world’s calendar of sporting events. Thousands of spectators travel to France to be able to watch from the sidelines, and of course there are millions more who watch the news coverage on the television.

The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle race, taking part in France. The race sometimes starts out in another country, but in 2016 the race will be run mostly in France, with just a short excursion to Berne in Switzerland. The route may alter from year to year, but the format stays the same. There are time trials, the passage through the mountain chains of the Pyrenees and the Alps, and the traditional last stage through the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The present format of the Tour de France includes twenty one stage, taking place over twenty three days and covering about three thousand five hundred kilometres. The race is planned to run clockwise one year and anticlockwise the following year.

The race is run annually during the month of July. The first ever Tour de France was held in 1903, and since then has been held every year, except during the two World Wars. The Tour de France increased in popularity tremendously, and the number of cyclists entering the race also increased, and international riders also began to show interest. The present day Tour de France is a World Tour event. The number of teams taking part usually varies between twenty and twenty two, with nine riders in each team.  The rider with the lowest average time is considered the leader of the race, and gets to wear the coveted yellow jersey.

There are several competitions that are held during the race, like the points classification for the sprinters, the mountains classification for the climbers, and the youngest rider classification for promising riders under the age of 26. Winning a stage adds greatly to a rider’s prestige and that of his team, and the honour of winning is hotly contested, fought for by a specialist cycling sprinter on each team.

Great Winners of the Tour

Miguel Indurain of Spain holds the record for the maximum number of wins in the Tour de France, he has won five times. Lance Armstrong won the race seven times, but was stripped of his titles for the doping charge he faced some years ago. The last few years have been dominated by British riders, namely Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome and the Team Sky.

Betting on the Tour de France

Punters greatly enjoy wagering on the outcome of a sporting event, and particularly the Tour de France bets. Online betting on sports events has grown to be a huge industry, and it can be done in many countries in the world. It can afford the skilled player huge rewards, but it is a good idea for players to indulge in some research first. Like different games chosen and played here, there are different bets available, like the winner of each stage of the Tour de France, the ultimate winner, and of course the team that has produced the most stage winners. There is a multitude of sportsbooks to choose from, and punters can even establish an account with an international sportsbook, and make telephone wagers direct from one’s own home.