Stage 9 of the Tour de France starts in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat and ends 182.4 kilometres later up the very steep Puy de Dôme climb which returns to the Tour de France after an absence of many years.
STAGE 8 WRAP UP
There was no joy for us on the betting front as our pick Wout Van Aert got going too late, to finish 3rd behind a very impressive Mads Pedersen and the Green Jersey, Jasper Philipsen. Had he finished 2nd we could have claimed our stake back, but unfortunately it was not to be and full credit to Pedersen who unwound with a very impressive long sprint to take the win.
The stage was incredibly hard ridden with no let up and unfortunately the big loss was Mark Cavendish who crashed and could not continue, meaning his search for his 35th win is over.
JERSEY UPDATE
There is no change to the Yellow Jersey classification and here Jonas Vingegaard remains the slight favourite at 8/10 ahead of Tadej Pogacar 23/20 and you can get 28/1 and better the balance.
Click here for the latest Outright Betting
Pogacar is the 11/4 favourite for the King of the Mountains ahead of Vingegaard 38/10. Jasper Philipsen is a 1/8 favourite to wear the Green Jersey all the way to Paris and Ineos Grenadiers are 9/20 for the Teams classification.
Click here for betting on all of the Tour de France Markets
STAGE 9 BETTING – Click here to bet
Tadej Pogacar 9/4
Jonas Vingegaard 7/2
Michael Woods 16/1
Mattias Skjelmose 18/1
Giulio Ciccone 20/1
Jai Hindley 20/1
Felix Gall 20/1
22/1 and better the balance
THE ROUTE
Although the only significant climb comes at the end of the stage, the route consists of tough racing roads with plenty of rolling hills. The intermediate sprint comes early on after 30 kilometers and is at the top of what looks like a fairly tough unclassified climb.
There are two Cat 4 and 1 Cat 3 climbs on route to the Puy de Dôme which rises 13.3 kilometers and 7.7%. The gradient does not dip below 11% in the final 4 kilometers.
VERDICT
The peloton must be absolutely exhausted after 8 consecutive days in the toughest opening week in the Tour de France I can recall. This could prove a very hard stage to control with the strong break going away, the betting suggests though that they will come back together fora finish to be fought out amongst the Yellow Jersey favourites.
The only question for me is whether either Pogacar’s or Vingegaard’s teams will want to take control of this stage early on as they will have to burn plenty of matches, but the fact that tomorrow is a rest day does have me leaning towards the break being caught, if that is the case it is hard to look past the top two riders in the betting and you can back either of them knowing you can get your money back for 2nd place with the World Sports Betting Promotion. I am hoping Pogacar rides a patient race, picks his moment to attack and rides away for the win or alternatively just out sprints Vingegaard in the final metres.
Suggested Bet: Pogacar win at 9/4
Get a refund on a 2nd place finish
Back any rider to win any stage of the 2023 Tour De France and if your selection comes 2nd, we will refund the stake in Free Bet vouchers!
Pre-Match events only. T’s & C’s apply. Refund/Payout limited to R2000.
Valid for bets taken before each stage from 1st – 23rd July
Simply email promotions@wsb.co.za with Subject ‘TDF Stage’
If the break does stick it is anyone’s guess who wins the stage, I am going to have a speculator on Jack Haig who is now well out of contention.
Suggested Bet: Jack Haig at 66/1
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
