Tour De France Stage 2 betting tips, predictions, odds and free bets (July 3, 2016)

Sunday, 03 July 2016 09:42
Written by David Bet

The 2016 Tour De France Stage 2 will bring the riders over 183km from Saint-Lo to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and like stage 1, it has the potential to be a very nervous and stressful affair. Don't miss our Tour De France STAGE 2 betting preview, with free picks, best odds, predictions on Winner and Head to Head, exclusive offer & no deposit free bets!

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TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 2 BETTING PREVIEW

The route for Stage 2 offer a category 3 climb (Cote de la Glacerie) towards the finish at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin could offer up some small time gaps between the overall contenders for the yellow jersey. Officially 1.9km at 6.5% it really opens up the stage to a lot of riders. Anyway, the uphill finish includes 500m at an average of 10.5% and a maximum of 15% just 500m from the top. The yellow jersey contenders must also try to win here, as they did at the Mur de Huy and Mûr-de-Bretagne last year.

Peter Sagan is the favourite number one. The SLovakian is able to finish prominently on many different types of stages - but it is where these short, sharp hills come in the final kilometres that he is hardest to beat.

Julian Alaphilippe is the second favourite of this race. The young Frenchman is an explosive rider who does well in races finishing with short, steep climbs. He is young but talented.

Michael Matthews is one of the best in the world in a finish like this. Unfortunately, he crashed during stage 1 and his condition is a big question mark.

Greg Van Avermaet excels in uphill sprints. Interestingly, he has beaten Sagan in similar finales on several occasions. Tom Dumoulin is fast in this kind of uphill sprint but his best chance is probably to anticipate the favourites.

Bryan Coquard was an impressive 4th at the Amstel Gold Race, a race that reminds a lot today's course. Maybe this finale could be a bit too tough for him.

This is also a great chance for Alejandro Valverde who is hard to beat in an uphill sprint like this. However, the Spaniard’s form is very uncertain. He is mainly here to prepare for the Olympics and he looked very tire after the Giro.

Fabian Cancellara didn’t impress at the Tour de Suisse and rode pretty poorly in the road race at the Swiss Championships. He is not in the best period of his career, but the Swiss can't be ruled out... never!

Alexis Vuillermoz and Dan Martin finished first and second respectively on Stage 8 of last year's Tour: a stage that closely resembles the profile here. Both are in decent form this season and are two probable contenders.

Dark horses? Four names: John Degenkolb, Joaquim Rodriguez, Artur Vichot and Petr Vakoc. And Froome? We expect Chris Froome to climb better than other GC contenders but we can't see him to win the stage.