Thrills and spills in Tour de France – but Froome has yellow jersey
Published:
We’re barely a week into this year’s Tour de France but already the event has courted plenty of attention – largely for the wrong reasons.
Peter Sagan has been disqualified for elbowing Mark Cavendish in an incident on Tuesday which forced the Manx rider to withdraw from the event with injury.
What’s more, AG2R La Mondiale rider Jan Bakelants has courted controversy over comments surrounding the Tour’s podium girls.
And even before this year’s event began, Trek-Segafredo suspended their rider Andre Cardoso after he tested positive for a banned substance.
But through it all, there’s a familiar name owning the Yellow Jersey – Chris Froome.
The Team SKY two-time champion came home third on the Tour’s first mountain stage on Wednesday, and holds a 12 second advantage over team-mate Geraint Thomas.
Astana’s Fabio Aru, who won yesterday’s stage at Planche des Belles Filles, is the only other man within 25 seconds of Froome.
Pre-Tour contenders Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana are 52 and 54 seconds back respectively.
All in all it’s as good a start as Froome could hope for, and he’s now the 8/11 favourite to claim a fourth Tour de France win.
Richie Porte is his nearest challenger in the betting at 4/1, and the BMC Racing Team peddler is within range at this early stage, 39 seconds behind Froome.
Aru is 9/2, and it’s worth noting that the last two riders to win the climb up to Planche des Belles Filles (Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and Vincenzo Nibali in 2014) went on to win that year’s Tour.
Quintana is fourth in the betting, but odds of 20/1 highlight how much work he has to do.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
