Tour de France Stage 9 Betting Preview

After the first mountain stage, many are suggesting that the Tour de France could already be decided and it would be a brave man to disagree. Team Sky simply destroyed the rest of their challengers before Chris Froome rode off into the distance to win in stunning fashion.

Froome now has a 51 second lead over his teammate Richie Porte, 1:25 over Alejandro Valverde, who impressed to finish third and 1:51 over Alberto Contador, who simply could not stay with the pace on the climb to Ax-3 Domaines. While they are just about still in contention, albeit hanging on by their fingertips, there were a number of contenders that are already done.

Joaquim Rodriguez at 2:31 back is surely too far back, while the likes of Andy Schleck (4:00), Cadel Evans (4:36), Ryder Hesjedal (8:29) and Tejay van Garderen (12:38) have all seen hopes of, not only victory, but a podium place slip away.

In terms of our ante-post bets, Tejay van Garderen outright and young rider is out the window, as is Ryder Hesjedal to finish in the top 10. As expected, the Canadian struggled with his broken rib and is probably too far back now to really challenge. However, Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Nieve are both still within touching distance of the top 10.

Moving onto Stage 9 and it is another tough stage with four category 1 climbs and a category 2 climb. With a long downhill stretch to the finish, it is a stage that is likely to be targeted by a breakaway and the mountain jersey contenders.

Depending on how the leading contenders are feeling, we may see attacks on La Hourquette d’Ancizan, but the long descent may put them off trying something on this stage. However, given the time lost today, it may leave them with no option but to try.

So, we want to look for men that are potentially going to be involved in a breakaway or who will be targeting mountain classification points.

In terms of attacking riders, Thomas Voeckler is certainly one that springs to mind. He tried attacking on the climb today, but was unable to really get away, but he will be eyeing this stage. He loves attacking and the long descent into the finish is one that he will enjoy. The attacking riding of Pierre Rolland so far suggests that the team are keen to target the polka dot jersey, so it would be no surprise to see Voeckler involved heavily.

This should be a stage that suits the style of Thomas Voeckler

I suspect Peter Sagan might look to get involved in the breakaway to pick up points in the intermediate sprint. He is capable in the mountains, and although it would be a surprise to see him involved all the way to the end, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the break.

It should be a reasonably large breakaway group and plenty of teams not involved in the fight for the general classification will be looking to get men into the group. Running through the teams, likely contenders might be Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil), Sylvain Chavanel (OPQS), Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ), Simon Clarke and Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEdge), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), the Izagirre brothers (Euskaltel), Brice Feillu (Sojasun) and Daniel Moreno (Katusha).

In other words, a stage like this is incredibly tough to pick a winner, given the nature of predicting the breakaway group. In the unlikely event that there is no breakaway winner and the leading GC contenders contest the finish, Alejandro Valverde has to be the favourite.

It is worth keeping stakes pretty low on this stage, but I have picked out a couple of selections. No match bets here given the unpredictable nature of the stage.

Recommended Bets

Thomas Voeckler @ 13/2 (Bet365)

Thomas de Gendt @ 14/1 (Bet365)

Simon Clarke E/W @ 33/1 (Bet365)

Gorka Izagirre E/W @ 100/1 (Coral)