Tour de France green jersey and King of the Mountains predictions and cycling betting tips: Fabio Jakobsen could leave sprint rivals green with envy

Where to watch the 2023 Tour de France

All stages live on Eurosport 1 & ITV4
Saturday, July 1 — Sunday, July 23

Best bets

Fabio Jakobsen to win points classification
1pt 11-2 bet365

Mark Cavendish to win a stage
1pt 13-8 bet365

Michael Woods to win mountains classification
1pt each-way 20-1 BoyleSports

Tour de France predictions

The allure of the Tour de France keeps the speedsters coming back in July, even if the 2023 edition could yield slim pickings for the fast men.

There aren’t as many early chances for the sprinters to triumph on this year’s route as is normally the case, meaning last year’s green jersey winner Wout van Aert could build a healthy advantage during the hilly opening days in the Basque country.

However, there is a significant caveat that he may not finish the race this year. The Belgian’s second child is due during the race and has also said that stage victories and next month’s world championship road race in Glasgow are his immediate aims. 

Jasper Philipsen is the favourite to succeed his compatriot in green but Fabio Jakobsen can call upon the peloton’s premier lead-out man Michael Morkov to pilot him to the finish line. The duo showed their understanding when combining for a pair of victories at the Tour of Belgium and Jakobsen could well head to Paris in green.

Cavendish could write a fairytale Tour ending

British legend Mark Cavendish is a 40-1 outsider to  win the green jersey for the third time as he bids to become the Tour’s most prolific stage winner in his farewell Tour. The Manx Missile announced his plans to retire at the end of the year midway through May’s Giro d’Italia, and he heads to the Tour level on 34 stage wins with Eddy Merckx.

The green jersey may be beyond Cav but he showed when winning the final stage of the Giro he is still a force to be reckoned with and he could etch his name into Tour de France lore with a 35th stage success.

Woods may be crowned king of the mountains

The mountains classification has been won by the Tour champion in each of the last three years and while it could be a similar story this time , it is worthwhile looking for value elsewhere.There are eight mountain stages, but just four of them are summit finishes. 

That’s a positive for the stage hunters as the overall contenders are unlikely to go for broke if they know they may still have to race on the way down to the finish. Jonas Vingegaard won the polka dot jersey last year, when wins on the Col du Granon and the Hautacam helped him gain the jersey from Simon Geschke in the final week.

Geschke is back to try again, as is Michael Woods, a prime candidate for infiltrating the breakaway.

Woods claimed the queen stage en route to the overall victory at the Route d’Occitane, while he was also sixth at the Volta a Catalunya and second in the Mont Ventoux Denivele Challenge.

The 36-year-old has failed to complete the Tour in the last two years but had animated the race before, wearing the King of the Mountains jersey on stage 15 in 2022, and he represents real each-way value at 20-1.

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