The Tour de France is the biggest cycling race in the world, with plenty of media attention on it, the sport’s biggest prizes up for grabs and lots of betting on it. If you’re a bit new to it, here’s how to choose the best betting sites for Tour de France betting.
How We Select the Best Sites for Betting on Tour de France
It’s always important to distinguish between the best sportsbooks full stop and the ones that are particularly strong for a specific sport, in this case, cycling betting.
Whereas many of the features of a sportsbook are a good indication of how good it is in general terms when it comes to betting on sports events, we’ve also included some specific things we look out for that relate exclusively to betting on the Tour de France.
The Number of Tour de France Betting Markets
The vast majority of the action at Tour de France betting sites is done on the overall (General Classification) winner market. However, Tour de France each-way betting and the winner of that day’s stage are other markets that cycling fans play a lot, too.
There are other popular markets for betting on Tour de France beyond those, such as who will be crowned the King of the Mountains, or who will be the Top Young Rider of the Tour. So we give credit to the Tour de France betting sites that give you plenty of choice when it comes to their markets.
Quality of Odds
We’ve mentioned Tour de France stage betting already, but what we haven’t mentioned is the importance of always securing the best-possible odds in comparison to other sites.
So if you keep backing say Tadej Pogacar at 2.2 to win the next stage rather than at just 2.00, the difference in your profits will be pretty significant. And this, of course, applies to all Tour de France betting, not just stage betting.
Tour de France Betting Bonuses and Offers
If you’re betting on the Tour de France, one way to get more bang for your buck at the best sportsbooks is to take advantage of any betting offers relating to the race. Some sites might say that if you bet £5 on the Tour on the Stage 1 winner, they might give you a free bet for the same amount to use ahead of Stage 2.
Others may give you a free in-play bet if you place a pre-race one, or a Price Boost on a particular rider. The more Tour de France offers there are and the more varied and good value they offer, the higher we’ll rate the site.
Interesting Facts to Know About the Tour de France
Aside from the betting on the Tour de France side of things, there’s plenty of interest in this fascinating race that captivates us year after year. Here are some cool facts about it:
- Maurice Garin won the first edition of the race in 1903 and also the second, only to be disqualified in 1904 after it was discovered he had caught a train for part of the race!
- When Greg LeMond won it in 1990, he did so without winning a single individual stage.
- Excluding Lance Armstrong, who ‘won’ it seven times before being stripped of all titles due to doping issues, four riders have won it four times: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin.
- Speaking of Merckx, he wore the yellow jersey 96 times, far more than anyone else in the race’s history.
- Merckx also won 34 stage wins, which was a record until Britain’s Mark Cavendish won his 35th stage win in 2024, a new record.
- Gino Baratli has the slightly unusual record of the longest time between his first (1938) and last wins (1948), a ten-year gap.
- In 2020, Tadej Pogacar won the general, mountain, and young rider classifications, becoming the first rider in Tour history to do so in winning all three, repeating the feat in 2021.
Types of Bets You Can Place for Tour de France
We’ve mentioned some of these in passing already, but here’s a bit more about some of the most popular betting markets.
General Winner
All the best online betting sites will offer this one. You’re betting on who will win the general classification prize. In other words, they will have the honour of riding into the Champs-Élysées wearing the yellow jersey on the final stage. This is probably the betting market that sees the most money wagered on it.
Stage Winner
There are 21 stages making up the Tour de France. Whether they’re clockwise or counter-clockwise circuits making up the stage, every day you’ll be able to bet on who will win that particular stage, with the market also offered in live betting.
Tour de France stage betting is particularly popular because the whole stage is broadcast on lots of TV channels, only lasts a few hours rather than weeks, and can produce some unexpected winners.
Mountains Classification
Which rider will be crowned King of the Mountains by picking up the most points in the mountain stages and get to wear the coveted polka-dot jersey?
Young Rider Classification
Who will do best among the riders aged 26 or younger? It is, of course, possible to win both this award and one of the other ones as long as the rider meets the age criteria.
Accas
Not many betting sites will allow you to put together an all-cycling acca that combines betting on, say, the General Classification Winner and the King of the Mountains winner. But some might. What you can certainly do is combine, for example, a bet on who will win that day’s stage with a football match played later that day.
Examples of Tour de France Betting Odds
We’ve just gone through some of the most popular betting markets around the Tour de France and now it’s worth explaining that the odds on some of the markets may vary wildly.
For example, big favourite Tadej Pogacar is just 1.4 with most sportsbooks to win the 2025 General Classification, but it’s not unusual for riders to win a particular stage at odds of 50,0 or higher.
The other thing to remember about Tour de France odds is that they can be expressed differently depending on the markets they predominantly face.
Some sportsbooks use decimal odds, others fractional odds, and some use American-style odds, but of course, they all mean the same thing and pay out the same amount of money if you win on it. Most betting sites allow you to choose the format in which you see the odds.
Tour de France Betting Tips and Strategies
And now let’s round things off with some advice that might help you turn over a profit once the 2025 Tour de France gets underway.
It’s Not Just the Rider, It’s the Team
No general classification winner has ever won the Tour de France without possessing incredible stamina for those long, testing mountain stages and at other times, significant speed for the time trials.
But no winner in recent memory has ever won the Tour without the help of a fantastic team behind them. Teammates help the Team Leader through the toughest stages by setting a sensible pace, helping them with breakaways and allowing the Team Leader to cycle behind them, which makes their job easier in terms of conserving energy.
So don’t just consider the qualities of the individual rider when trying to find the General Classification winner, but also the strength of his teammates.
Betting Exchanges Better for Stage Betting
When betting on the stage winner, especially if you’re doing so in live betting, you’re better off doing so at an exchange like Betfair or Betdaq rather than a fixed odds bookie.
Not only are you likely to get far bigger odds on the Exchange, especially on outsiders, but the betting exchange model allows you to trade your position by backing and laying during the stage in live betting for a guaranteed profit.
Conditions Can Make All the Difference in Stage Betting
No rider is going to go out and win 10 or 11 different stages because it’s just too physically demanding to even try to do so.
So instead of backing the same big champions like Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel to win a stage time and time again, look for riders who are particularly suited to the conditions on the day when betting on the stage winner.
Maybe a rider is particularly good in the rain or suited to the highest climbs. Choose a stage winner based on the specific skills a rider needs that day for that stage, not just their general skills.
Make Good Use of Your Resources
Though cycling is something of a niche sport, you’ll find some excellent websites with knowledgeable analysts and betting tipsters who dedicate their lives to watching and writing about the biggest events, starting, of course, with the Tour de France.
Try to get the general consensus about who might have a big Tour across the different categories, and pay plenty of attention to what the TV commentators have to say, as they’re probably more knowledgeable than anyone.
Lastly, make sure you have accounts with at least three different Tour de France betting sites so that across them, they’ll have all your favourite markets and will also allow you to always secure the best odds, whatever you’re betting on.
