Tour De France Stage 7 Predictions, Favorites, Best Bets & Odds (8.7.2022)
- Written by David Bet
Stage 7 of the Tour De France is the most anticipated one of week 1, as it is highlighted by the summit finish on the Super Planche des Belles Filles. A day for the general classification contenders on an iconic climb that has become a Tour Staple. Will Pogaçar increase the gap over his closest chasers? Read here our Tour De France Stage 7 predictions, best odds, recommended bets on Winner, Top 3 & Head to Head, exclusive promotions and betting offers.
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Stage 7 features many climbs: the third-category Col de Grosse Pierre (3.1 kilometres at 6.4%), the uncategorised Col du Ménil, the category-three Col des Croix (3.2 kilometres at 6.3% ), and the uncategorised Col de la Chevestraye before the final ascent - the first-category Super Planche des Belles Filles.
This seven-kilometre climb has an average gradient of 8.7% and will see the first showdown between the GC favourites. It also has stretches of up to 11% and 13% on the first three kilometres and a 20% ramp just before the flamme rouge.
Furthermore, an extra 1km on unpaved road has been added after the old finish line. The final km includes a 24% ramp just before the new finish.
It has been ten years since La Planche des Belles Filles first featured on the Tour de France. Chris Froome finished 2 seconds ahead of his team-mate (and captain) Bradley Wiggins in 2012. After Froome’s triumph, the climb also saw stage victories by Vincenzo Nibali (2014), Fabio Aru (2017), Dylan Teuns (2019), and Tadej Pogacar (2020).
Stage 7 Favourites
This stage comes after a very intense hilly stage on Thursday. All the riders will have heavy legs considering that Tuesday and Wednesday's stages were strenuous too.
Anyway, given the gentle run-up, it should be easy for the GC teams to control the breakaway. Hence, we expect GC contenders to fight for the stage win and time bonuses.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Primož Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) will have to show their cards in earnest for the first time.
Among them, Pogaçar really impressed in the Arenberg stage after he was surprised by Wout Van Aert's attack a day earlier. The two-time Tour De France winner is the best suited rider for this kind of gradient while Roglic and Thomas usually prefers longer climbs with gradients below 10%. Vingegaard has good stats on brutal ascents and will try a double-team attack to Pogacar.
Other riders that generally perform well on steep climbs are Adam Yates, Michael Woods and Alexander Vlasov. Will they have the legs to escape or outsprint Pogaçar?
Dark horses?
If a breakaway goes to the finish line, watch out for riders such as Lennard Kamna, Ruben Guerreiro, Bauke Mollema and Marc Hirschi.
Dylan Teuns and Giulio Ciccone finished 1st and 2nd respectively on the Planche in 2019, but the run-up was much tougher than this year. Anyway, they can't be ruled out.
French hopes are represented by Romain Bardet, Thibaut Pinot, Victor Lafay, Benoit Cosnefroy and Warren Barguil.
Other GC contenders such as Enric Mas, Jakob Fuglsang, Emanuel Buchmann, Ben O'Connor, Nairo Quintana, Daniel Martinez and Rigoberto Uran are also likely to do well but we don't expect them to win the stage.
TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 7 PREDICTIONS
The section below contains our experts' betting tips on the Tour De France STAGE 7 (Winner, Top 3 and Head To Head recommended bets). 
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