Tour de France Tips

The 2024 Tour de France begins this weekend, with 22 teams and around 176 riders set to battle it out over 21 stages.

This year, the first three stages of the Tour will be in Italy, with riders setting out from Florence on the 29th of June and ending in Nice on the 21st of July.

For the first time the Tour will not end with the famous finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, as due to the Olympics taking place there this year, Nice will host the final stage.

Below we pick out some of our best bets for the 2024 Tour de France.

Tadej Pogačar expected to be tough to beat

Team UAE’s Tadej Pogačar won the Tour de France General Classification in 2020 and 2021 and could well be on course for a third success this year. The Slovenian rider has lost out to major rival Jonas Vingegaard in the last two editions of the Tour, but judging by his smooth Giro d’Italia success in under 80 hours, he’s a worthy favourite.

Pogačar is the perfect all-round rider for the 21 varied stages of the Tour, possessing the stamina, speed and iron will to last out in the lung-busting mountain climbs and speed trials. He has a strong UAE team behind him with riders such as Britain’s Adam Yeats, Portugal’s Joao Almeida and Spain’s Juan Ayuso. They are likely to test the other team’s endurance in the peloton and should set things up well for Pogačar to sprint to glory. At 1/2 he doesn’t offer much value though and it could be worth looking elsewhere for more of an each-way price.

Bidding for three successive Tour de France wins, Jonas Vingegaard will be riding for the first time since a serious crash in April’s Itzulia Basque Country. While there’s clearly no doubt about his ability and suitability for this challenge, coach of Team Visma-Lease, Mathieu Heijboer, has expressed concerns about Vingegaard’s fitness and form ahead of the Tour. That has to be a worry and as a result he looks short enough at 15/8.

Three-time Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič recorded his best finish when 2nd in the 2020 Tour de France, but failed to finish in the successive two tours. He didn’t compete last year and at 34-years-old his time for winning may have passed him by. At 7/1 to win the General Classification, he can be passed over.

A young rider that is competing for only the second time in the Tour de France, Carlos Rodriguez looks interesting from an each-way perspective at 20/1. The 23-year-old Spaniard finished fifth on his Tour debut last year and could be set to better that this time. With a strong Ineos Grenadiers team behind him, including former Tour winner Egan Bernal, as well as British riders Geraint Thomas, Tom Pidcock and Ben Turner, Rodriguez should have the perfect base to launch a strong challenge and it wouldn’t be a surprise were he to make the podium.

Giulio Ciccone can be King of the Mountains again

With seven gruelling mountain stages scheduled, this year’s Tour is sure to be tough going. Pogačar is one of the best ascent climbers out there and is likely to be there fighting for the polkadot jersey. However, there could be more value at 4/1 by chancing last year’s King of the Mountains, Giulio Ciccone, who finished well clear of Pogačar.

That was his second Mountains Classification win after taking the title in the 2019 Giro d’Italia and he looks a strong contender once again.