Tour De France Stage 2 Predictions, Betting Tips & H2H (Vitoria-Gasteiz > San Sebastien - 2.7.2023)
- Written by David Bet
The 2nd Stage of the 2023 Tour De France, a 209km route from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Donostia San Sebastián, features more hilly terrain in the Basque Country. Looking for recommended bets? This post contains our Tour De France Stage 2 predictions, odds, expert tips on Winner, Top 3 & Head to Head, promo codes & welcome offers from top and new betting sites!
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TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 2 BETTING PREVIEW
Stage 2 is longest one of this Tour and is based on the Spanish cycling classic San Sebastian.
The peloton crosses Côte d’Aztiria, Côte d’Alkiza and the famous Jaizkibel climb, albeit from the less difficult side.
The Jaizkibel climb, famous from the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa, is only 20km from the finish and will probably decide who will win this stage.
The slopes of the Jaizkibel, 8 km long and averaging 5.1%, with a final 4 km at 7%, have decided most editions of that race.
Stage 2 Favourites
It should be tough enough, however, to cut the peloton down to a small group of riders to arrive in San Sebastian at the end of the day.Fast riders with climbing skills, this is what we are looking for this stage.
And Wout Van Aert is the obvious favourite, even if he looked exhausted at the end of the first day in Bilbao. The Belgian arrived with the GC contenders, behind Adam and Simon Yates, but he didn't sprint because of fatigue.
The second favourite is certainly Mathieu Van Der Poel who didn't keep the pace of GC contenders in Bilbao and finioshed 33rd with a 33 seconds gap. This route will surely suit MVDP and wouldn't be surprised to see the Dutchman fighting once again with his bitter rival Van Aert for the stage win.
Saturday's climb were to steep for Biniam Girmay who arrived with a 7 minutes gap on the finish line. He could have saved his legs for this stage and beat van der Poel on a not dissimilar stage to this at the 2022 Giro d'Italia.
Mads Pedersen also finished down the field while Jasper Philipsen didn't even try to remain with the best riders. Anyway, the duo should be in the mix here. Even if they reach the summit of the last climb with few seconds of gap, there is enough space to recover before the final sprint.
Magnus Cort Nielsen and Corbin Strong are the other two riders that have targeted this stage since months and they could be serious contenders, as well as Tom Pidcock, one of the sport's best descenders.
Tadej Pogaçar was the most brilliant on Saturday alongside the Yates twins, but we expect the Slovenian to go for the time bonuses on the Jaizkibel summit rather than for the stage win.
Looking for a long shot?
Considering that the stage covers much of the terrain of the one-day San Sebastian, we can't rule out Neilson Powless and Matej Mohoric, respectively winner and runner up of the 2022 edition of the race.Julian Alaphilippe won the 2018 edition of the Clasica San Sebastian. He doesn't have the same legs of a couple of years ago, but the Frenchman is always capable to deliver impressive performances.
Caleb Ewan could be the surprise package of the day. Should he climb the Jaizkibel with the front group, the Australian will probably sprint with the fastest riders. And he still fast enought to be in contention with younger sprinters. At odds of 100/1, it's worth a try.
Mattias Skjelmose, Matteo Trentin, Fred Wright and Soren Kragh Andersen are other riders that can't be overlooked.
TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 2 PREDICTIONS
The section below contains our experts' betting tips on the Tour De France Stage 2 (Winner, Top 3 and Head To Head recommended bets). 
We share our predictions and betting tips on The Tour De France 2023 on a regular basis and we also cover any other major sport, including daily football tips and horse racing predictions.
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