Bradley Wiggins is 6/5 with Sky Bet to become the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France.
British star hopeful of ending 99-year drought
Team Sky leader Bradley Wiggins is 6/5 with
Sky Bet to become the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France ahead of Saturday's prologue in Liege.
The 99th edition of Le Tour is possibly Wiggins' best-ever chance to win the most famous Grand Tour as the route plays to his strengths with over 100km of time-trials over the three week period.
The 32-year-old has already won three races this season, the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie, and Critérium du Dauphiné, and earned time trial victories in each event.
With this in mind he looks good value at
4/6 to win an individual stage in the online betting company's 'Team Sky specials' market.
Last year's winner Cadel Evans is 2/1 to retain the maillot jaune and both men will benefit from the relative lack of mountain stages in comparison with the 2011 event.
BMC Racing Team leader Evans and Wiggins are solid all-rounders with strong teams behind them and
Sky Bet is predicting a two-horse race this year, with 2010 winner Andy Schleck injured.
The rest of the field are quite a way back in the betting, with time trial specialist Jurgen Van Den Broeck available at 18/1, Wiggins' team-mate Chris Froome 20/1 and Denis Menchov, who is
22/1 to wear the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees.
A dark horse who could trouble the podium is noted climbing specialist Robert Gesink (also 22/1 to win), who has shown flashes of improving his time trial capabilities with a respectable fourth in the Tour of California TT last month.
And if he can take advantage of his impressive uphill pace he may create a large enough time gap to defend against Wiggins & co. in any potential time trial showdown, but will struggle on the individual stage.
However, Van Den Broeck ended up edging him in the general classification in that race overall, so perhaps the Belgian is worth an each-way punt.
Successful
It seems almost rude to mention road race World Champion Mark Cavendish so far down this preview, but the 'Manx Missile' - who is 3/1 second favourite to retain his green jersey.
With the shadow of the Olympics looming large, sprint specialist Cavendish may prioritise the prospect of gold at London 2012, so powerful Slovak youngster Peter Sagan is
4/5 favourite to be sprint king.
The 22-year-old, who has already sealed 15 stage wins in various races so far this season, came second in the Gent-Wevelgem classic too and looks the man to beat.
In the King of the Mountains betting, Saxo Bank climber Chris Anker Sorensen is 6/1 favourite to claim the polka dot jersey.
After winning the equivalent jersey in the Volta a Catalunya in March, the Dane is slightly favoured to Johnny Hoogerland, who was King of the Mountains for five days in last year's Tour de France.
Gesink (22/1) features as an outside bet again in this market, but whether the powerful climber can perform consistently enough to accrue enough points remains to be seen.
Click here to see all of Sky Bet's Tour de France markets and specials.
