Tour de France: Stage One predictions and cycling betting tips

Free cycling tips, best bets and analysis for stage one of the 2021 Tour de France.

Where to watch

ITV4 & Eurosport 1, 11.30am

Best bet

Wout van Aert
1pt each-way 6-1 Hills

Stage one preview

Stage one of the Tour de France is usually the chance for a sprinter or time-trial specialist to get their hands on the first yellow jersey but the Tour organisers have given the peloton’s punchers the chance this time around with a lumpy test in Brittany.

Mathieu van der Poel is 5-2 favourite to get his Tour de France association off to a dream start and there is no doubt that his Alpecin-Fenix team, also lining up at the race for the first time, will do everything in their powers to make that a reality.

World champion Julian Alaphilippe led the race for 14 days during a memorable 2019 Tour which had the whole of France dreaming of finally crowning a new Tour winner. It wasn’t to be as he cracked in the final week but he is a five-time stage winner at the race and will relish today’s terrain.

But so too will Wout van Aert, who will get a chance to target stages and yellow in the first week before he is called into action for Primoz Roglic’s general-classification hopes.

Van Aert has raced sparingly over the last few months but advertised his condition by winning the Belgian road race title last weekend.

His long-standing rivalry with Van der Poel is likely to be a narrative of Tours for years to come but it could the Belgian who comes out on top this time.

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