What is the Tour de France and how to bet on it?

For many bicycling fans, the Tour de France is the brightest and most anticipated event of the year. Millions of viewers watch the multi-day, grueling contention on sports channels, millions do not miss a single news story about the race, and thousands of lucky ones become living witnesses of the exciting struggle of professional cyclists.


In this article, you will find out why the Tour de France has become most popular bicycling race in the world, where the most difficult phases take place and how the winner is determined. We will help you understand the intricacies of the rules and share interesting facts. It is most popular race among both fans and those who bet on bicycle races.

Bicycle tournament format

The 2021 tournament took place from June 26th to July 18th. It brought together from 18 to 24 teams, each of which will be represented by nine cyclists. The Tour de France includes 21 stages, which have their own classification (lowland, hilly, mid-mountain, individual stages and intermediate sprint). The length of each phase is usually in the range of 100-250 kilometers, and one phase is given one day.
After passing the stage, the time of cyclists is recorded, and the next day a new stage awaits them. Cyclists are given a day of rest several times during the tournament. In theory, you can win the Tour de France without winning a single phase separately.
According to the results of the races, the organizers of the tournament present the athletes with 5 different T-shirts, which mean the following:

  • Yellow jersey – it is received by the leader of the tournament by time.
  • The green jersey is the leader of the Tour de France in terms of points (the first 15 athletes of each stage receive points, which are then summed up).
  • Pea jersey is the leader of the tournament in points at the mountain classification stages.
  • The white jersey is the leader of the tournament among athletes under 25.
  • Among other things, there is a struggle between teams in the Tour de France. Also, at the end of the bicycle tournament, players receive points towards the UCI world ranking. Such a format of tournament gives you a lot of opportunities to bet.

Features of betting on the Tour de France

Since the Tour de France is most famous bicycling race, there is a massive interest in tournament betting by bookmakers. Despite the fact that bookmakers pay little attention to bicycling, on the Tour de France they give the maximum odds and an acceptable list. Those who bet, can place a bet on the winner of each stage, on the total time of arrival, on the place of the cyclist in the stage, etc.
When making bets, be guided by the position of athletes in the UCI rankings, their performance and recent results in other major international bicycle tournaments, motivation of athletes and clubs at each separate stage.