Tour de France: Stage 1 Preview

What better way to shake up the standings early on than with a 14km Individual Time Trial through the streets of Dusseldorf.  Longer than a prologue, this stage is shorter than the average TT the Tour tends to throw up but it still offers the riders the chance to put some early time into their rivals.  The course itself looks fast, very fast actually, without the sniff of a corner in the first 4km of racing.  Other than 2 slight humps, it is completely pan flat meaning the power men will be going flat out full the full duration.

Note: The weather. Race is forecast in Dusseldorf and this would make the stage a complete lottery in terms of betting.  The early reports are that the rain will ease off towards the end of the afternoon which, in theory, would favour the later starters. The startlist hasn’t been released as yet, but it’ll be worth keeping an eye on.

Tony Martin – $3.00 
The reigning German TT National Champion and 4-time TDF TT winner will have been eyeing off this stage ever since the route was announced last year. The fact that the race is starting in Germany should give him extra motivation to push for the win and the first Maillot Jaune of the 2017 race.  The course looks almost designed with him in mind and his form last weekend would indicate that he is going well against the clock.

Primoz Roglic – $3.25
The Slovenian former ski jumper has already won 4 time trials in 2017 and is coming off the back of a 7.5km prologue win in the Ster ZLM Toer in early June. Roglic has been targeting this stage to take the first yellow jersey for his impressive looking Lotto Jumbo team and it is only Martin’s reputation that is stopping him from being favourite in the market.  He looks to be Martin’s biggest threat.

Stefan Kung – $7.00
With the absence of Rohan Dennis, the young Swiss rider will be BMC’s main hope of an early stage win here and he comes into the Tour off the back of an impressive 2017. He originally opened at $18 in the betting and it’s a mark of how well he’s riding that his price is now around the $7 mark. He destroyed the field in the recent Swiss TT Nationals, winning by a massive 57 secs which shows that the form lines are good. His top 3 price of $2.50 looks to be a fantastic bet.

Steve Cummings – $26.00
The Wolf cannot leave Steve Cummings out after his performance in the British National Championships last weekend. Returning from injury, the 37-year old completed a time trial & road race double, something that hadn’t been achieved for a decade (David Millar 2007).  He’ll come into this race full of confidence and he represents great each way value at $34. The Brit finshed 10th in the opening 2015 Tour time trial (13.8km) in a field that contained Dennis, Martin, Cancellara & Dumoulin.  The Wolf thinks he stands a good chance of springing a surprise here.
Recommended Bets

Best: Primoz Roglic – $3.25
Value: Stefan Kung – $7.00
Roughie: Steve Cummings – $26.00
Roughie: Peter Sagan – $101.00