BetZillion is back with a free cycling betting preview for Tour de France 2022, with expert picks and odds from bookies with the best cycling betting bonuses.
In this 2022 Tour de France betting preview, we will take a closer look at the 109th edition of the race that will take the riders from Copenhagen to Paris and provide you with our expert picks and predictions for you to bet on.
The first Tour de France, which took place in 1903, was formed by George Lefèvre, the rugby and cycling reporter and Henri Desgrange, the editor of L’Auto. He wanted to publicise cycling as a sport and improve the circulation of the cycling sports newspaper. And even though their initial goal was relatively humble, the project took off and is nowadays one of the most prestigious sporting events.
The first Tour de France was a 6-stage race covering 2428km, leading the riders from Paris through Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, and back to the French capital. Maurice Garin was crowned as the inaugural Tour de France winner as he lifted the trophy in front of 20,000 spectators, a sizeable crowd for a cycling race.
The success of the Tour de France was instant, with L’Auto’s circulation quadrupling the same year. Unfortunately, the second Tour de France remains one of the most controversial events, with many riders cheating, catching trains and even sabotaging one another. But regardless of the incidents, the Tour de France returned in 1905 with more precise rules and a newly introduced mountain stage – the Ballon d’Alsace.
Since the introduction of the new rules, Tour de France became a formal event and continued to grow in popularity and distance. Going from 2428km, which the riders had to cover in 1903, the race is nowadays significantly longer – 3328 kilometres in 2022.
Besides extending the race to cover more ground, Tour de France saw other developments with new rules and technological advancements in bikes. However, throughout that, Tour de France has remained what it was destined to be – one of the world’s most significant cycling events.
The Tour de France 2022 odds have been released well ahead of time, and as we get closer to the first stage of the race, they continue to move. So while cycling bookies try to catch the right Tour de France odds in 2022, this gives us an excellent opportunity to place our bets and chase value before the lines close.
VIP programLive gamesMany bonusesMany bonuses24/7 supportMobile appsLive bettingMany sportsFast payoutsGreat supportMobile appsLive bettingEasy to useGreat markets24/7 supportTadej Pogačar is the clear favourite to win the 2022 Tour de France, and you can’t blame anyone who wants to pick him as the main bet on Tour de France 2022. He is the current no.1 on the UCI World Rankings and unquestionably the most in-form rider in the field.
Moreover, he is perfect in Tour de France, where the 23-year-old made his debut in 2020 and brushed off his competition to claim his first Grand Tour title despite being a heavy underdog. And then he did it again in 2021, making him one of the few riders to win the race back-to-back.
What makes this even more impressive is that in 2021, Pogačar won all 3 classifications, and later the same year, too attended the Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. With that, he became the first-ever rider to win awards in both Tour de France and the Olympics.
We could continue listing all the accomplishments the 23-year-old Slovenian has achieved, but the main point is that there is very little to suggest Pogačar can’t win another Tour de France this month. But another question is whether he is one of the best Tour de France 2022 betting tips you can take at the offered price.
Priced as high as 4/1 on most online betting sites, Jonas Vingegaard is one of the closest rivals for Pogačar, yet even he is considered a class below the Slovenian. Still, that doesn’t mean that Vingegaard doesn’t stand a chance.
The 25-year-old Danish rider was exceptional in the Tour de France in 2021, and even though he couldn’t pass Pogačar, he did place runner-up in only his second Grand Tour of his career (46th in 2020 Vuleta). Moreover, he has already gotten to the podium in 2 major races this season, including Critérium du Dauphiné and Tirreno–Adriatico.
Besides the 2 silver medals, Vingegaard also won La Drôme Classic, was first in Stage 8 of Critérium du Dauphiné and finished 6th overall in the Tour of the Basque Country.
Vingegaard has the talent and the ability to win, but we wouldn’t consider him an excellent choice to add to our Tour de France predictions 2022 list. And that is because he will likely have to support our next rider rather than chase for glory.
As long as Primož Roglič doesn’t fall off his bike, he should be set to compete for the 2022 Tour de France trophy. Jokes aside, Roglič is rightly priced as one of the top dogs for the French race, where he has done well before if we ignore what happened in 2021.
Sometimes even the top riders can be a bit clumsy, and Roglič is a living example of that, especially if we look back at his run in the 2021 Tour de France, where he crashed his bike multiple times before calling it quits. But perhaps his incident is not so much of an indication that it might happen again but rather an example of how even the top dogs can sometimes have mishaps that render them incapable of continuing the race.
As the no.2 in the UCI World Rankings, Roglič should not be overlooked by anyone looking to bet on the race. And that especially holds for those looking to place a live bet knowing there is a good chance he could start slow.
Admittedly, Roglič has never won Tour de France, but he was fourth in 2018 and second in 2020 when he came out short in a spectacular battle with his countrymen. And even though Roglič is expected to finish behind his friend this year, we can be sure that if the 2 find themselves side by side in the final stage, the chances of Roglič winning will be much closer to 50/50 than the current Tour de France 2022 odds suggest.
Tour de France is scheduled to start with the first stage in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday, July 1, and run until Sunday, July 24, when the riders arrive in Paris. The route will feature 21 stages in total and will lead the riders over a distance of 3,328 km (2,068 miles).
There will be 2 individual time trials (Stage 1 and Stage 20), 6 flat stages (Stage 2, 3, 13, 15, 19, and 21), 3 hilly stages (Stage 4, 5, and 6), 4 medium-mountain stages (Stage 8, 10, 14, and 16), and 6 mountain stages (Stage 7, 9, 11, 12, 17, and 18).
The 2022 Tour de France will also include 3 rest days on July 4, 11, and 18, which punters can use to calculate how they will place a live bet on the next stage.
With all the basics out of the way and the favourites covered, let’s focus on our Tour de France 2022 predictions, where we picked 3 drivers we believe have a good chance of coming out ahead.
Tadej Pogačar seems an obvious choice to win the 2022 Tour de France, but he is not a good pick at the offered Tour de France odds 2022. Instead, we’ll look at the second-best thing in Primož Roglič.
The online betting sites slightly underrate the former professional ski jumper. Although Pogačar is more likely to win, given his past success in the French race, we can’t ignore that Roglič was second here in 2020 and would have been in the mix to win in 2021 had he not crashed.
Besides that, Roglič has already won 2 races this year in Paris–Nice and Critérium du Dauphiné, so the form isn’t an issue. And if that is not enough, the 32-year-old has superb support around him – a perfect recipe for a victory.
We can pick so many favourites for the 2022 Tour de France, so it’s fair to look at which underdogs we can bet on with our favourite bookmaker. When we talk about sleeper picks for the 2022 Tour de France, it’s hard to ignore Geraint Thomas, priced at 14/1.
The legendary British rider is rightly one of the underdogs, but he has shown enough of late for us to believe that he can impress. Despite his age (36), the 2018 Tour de France winner has shown no signs of weakness in the Tour de Suisse, which he won with relative ease.
Although that is the only race he has attended this year, his performance in Switzerland was enough for us to keep an eye on him for the 2022 Tour de France.
Daniel Martinez might be the right guy to follow if you are not a big fan of betting on older riders and have more faith in younger legs. The 26-year-old has been phenomenal so far this season, and if his performances over the year are any indication, he could cause severe damage in the upcoming Grand Tour.
Martinez won the National Road Championships time trial, was first overall at Tour of the Basque Country (where he also won in points and was 1st in Stage 4), and then placed third in Paris–Nice and Volta ao Algarve. In his last 3 starts, Martinez did not reach a podium finish, but he did not disappoint with a 4h-place finish in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, 5th in La Flèche Wallonne and 8th overall in Tour de Suisse.
We end our Tour de France 2022 betting predictions with a smaller wager on Alexander Vlaslov at 20/1. Although not the most known name in the field, Vlaslov has impressed with victories in the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana and the Tour de Romandie, and has since picked up 5 top-4 finishes and 4 podiums.
At the offered odds, an each-way bet on Alexander Vlaslov doesn’t sound too wrong.
Prediction: Alexander Vlasov to win – 20/1 (each/way)
That concludes our 2022 Tour de France betting preview, where we covered all the main favourites to win the race and provided you with 4 expert picks for the second Grand Tour of the year. Equipped with all that knowledge, you’re ready to visit your favourite bookmaker and place your bets before the race starts on Friday, July 1!
