Road World Championships women's race predictions & cycling betting tips

Free cycling tips, best bets and analysis for the Women's Road Race in the Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia.

Where to watch

Eurosport 1, 3.25am Saturday

Best bet

Lotte Kopecky
1pt each-way 15-2 bet365

Preview

Italy’s Elisa Balsamo ended four years of Dutch dominance in the elite women’s race at the Road World Champion­ships last season, but the betting strongly suggests that the rainbow jersey will be returning to the Netherlands after this year’s race in New South Wales.

Dutch riders occupy the first three places in the betting and such is the strength of their riders it is hard to quibble with that stance.

Favourite Marianne Vos is already a three-time world champion and has been second on a further six occasions, Annemiek van Vleuten was world champion in Yorkshire in 2019 and youngster Demi Vollering was runner-up to Van Vleuten at this year’s Tour de France Femmes.

So the calibre of the Dutch squad is not in question but how they play the race tactic­ally isn’t easy to second-guess. They got it all wrong at the Tokyo Olympics last year, allowing 500-1 rank outsider Anna Kiesenhofer of Austria to take gold, and having three legitimate contenders isn’t always a good thing.

One-day specialist Lotte Kopecky will be Belgium’s undoubted number one option and she arrives in Australia after some excellent showings at Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.

This year’s Tour of Flanders winner warmed up for the road race with a respectable ninth-place finish in Sunday’s time-trial.

Not got a bet365 account? Bet £10 & get £50 in free bets

Open account offer. Minimum deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as bet credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Minimum odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude bet credits stake. Time limits/T&Cs apply. 18+ begambleaware.org

CLAIM OFFER HERE

MORE FREE BETS

Sign up to emails from Racing Post Sport and get all the latest news and tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport