Favorites and Long Shots: Odds for the 2009 Tour Contenders
Can 2008 Best Young Rider winner Andy Schleck overcome his 7-1 odds to win the Tour?Sipa via AP Images
By Bruce Hildenbrand
For Active.com
Just like other major sports, betting lines exist for the Tour de France. I am not suggesting that you become an online gambler, but if watching the Tour on TV gets a bit stale, here is one way to spice up the event. If you do chose to participate, please play responsibly.
There are a number of online sites that provide betting; oddschecker.com does a reasonable job of compiling most of the betting locales. Here are the odds for the overall win from two of those sites.
Alberto Contador
|
11/10 |
|
| Lance Armstrong |
7/2 |
|
| Andy Schleck |
7/1 |
|
| Cadel Evans |
9/1 |
|
| Denis Menchov |
14/1 |
|
| Carlos Sastre |
20/1 |
|
| Levi Leipheimer |
28/1 |
|
| Roman Kreuziger |
33/1 |
|
| Robert Gesink |
40/1 |
|
Michael Rogers
|
50/1 |
|
| Franck Schleck |
50/1 |
|
| Luis Leon Sanchez |
50/1 |
|
| Linus Gerdemann |
66/1 |
|
| Christian Vande Velde |
80/1 |
|
Alberto Contador
|
17/20
|
|
| Lance Armstrong |
9/2 |
|
| Andy Schleck |
13/2 |
|
| Cadel Evans |
13/2 |
|
| Denis Menchov |
16/1 |
|
| Carlos Sastre |
18/1 |
|
| Levi Leipheimer |
18/1 |
|
| Frank Schleck |
25/1 |
|
| Franco Pellizotti |
40/1 |
|
| Christian Vande Velde |
50/1 |
|
| Kim Kirchen |
50/1 |
|
| Michael Rogers |
50/1 |
|
| Robert Gesink |
50/1 |
|
| Roman Kreuziger |
50/1 |
|
| Andreas Kloden |
66/1 |
|
| Luis Leon Sanchez |
66/1 |
|
| Oscar Pereiro Sio |
80/1 |
|
| Vincenzo Nibali |
100/1 |
|
| Linus Gerdemann |
150/1 |
|
Top French Hopefuls (It Is the Tour de France)
| Christophe Moreau |
200/1 |
|
| Sylvain Chavanel |
300/1 |
|
As the late, great Billy Mays would say, "But wait, there's more!" If just betting on the winner isn't enough to pique your interest, there are a number of other categories on which you can wager. Here is a sampling of a few of the more interesting ways to generate some additional curiosity.
- Pick all the top 10 finishers
- Pick the winner of the mountains classification
- Pick the winner of the points classification
- Pick the winner of the best young rider classification
- Pick the nation to win the most stage victories
- Total number of riders to complete the race
- Total number of riders to wear the yellow jersey
- Pick the number of stages wins by a particular rider
- Pick the winning time margin of the overall winner
- Pick the nation of winner
- Pick the team of the winning rider
Do your picks match the oddmakers's? Which of the dark horses has the best chance of ascending the podium? Add your comments below.
