Tour De France Stage 3 betting tips, predictions, odds and free bets (6th July 2015)

Monday, 06 July 2015 08:58
Written by David Bet

Tour De France Stage 3 from Anvers to Huy is another classic where the steep finish on the Mur de Huy offers the puncheurs the chance to win the stage and gain a few seconds. This article contains our Tour De France STAGE 3 betting preview, predictions, best odds, betting tips on Winner and Head to Head, bookie promotions and no deposit free bets!

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TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 3 BETTING PREVIEW

There are three short steep climbs in the final 18 kilometres, which replicate the finish of the Flèche Wallonne classic. The race is 159.5km long, 46km shorter than the Classic and ends on the Mur de Huy with an average gradient of 9.6 per cent that reace a leg-crunching maximum gradient of 19 per cent in the final few hundred metres. It is a vertiginous climb and GC contenders and stage hunters will try to get into the best possible position at the foot of the Mur de Huy.

Anyway, it will be hard for Cancellara to defend the lead. As to the GC contenders, no one of the Fab 4 (Froome, Nibali, Quintana and Contador) is suited for this finale. We believe that Chris Froome is the most explosive rider among them, but the Brit is unlikely to win the stage.

Alejandro Valverde is the favourite to win this stage stage. In April, the Spaniard won the race for the second consecutive year, beating Julian Alaphilippe and Michael Albasini in the uphill sprint after having edged out Dan Martin and Michal Kwiatkowski the year before. Prior to that, Dani Moreno won in 2013, Joaquim Rodriguez in 2012 and Philippe Gilbert in 2011.

Peter Sagan will try to stay close to the best riders but this finale has proved to be too steep for him when he did Fleche Wallonne two years ago.

Pierre Rolland, Laurens Ten Dam, Thibaut Pinot, Andrew Talansky, Tejay van Garderen, Jean-Christophe Peraud, Richie Porte and Steven Kruijswijk all need longer climbs to excel.

Our pick for Stage 3 is Joaquim 'Purito' Rodriguez. He has had a perfect preparation for this race and he looked much stronger in the Dauphiné that he has usually done and his punchy climbing skills have usually been one step above Valverde.

Another strong contender could be Daniel Martin. He has made this stage the biggest goal of the race and he is perfectly suited to this kind of finish.

As dark horse we mention Julian Arredondo, who showed signs of progress in the Tour de Suisse, and Simon Yates as this stage suits his punchy climbing skills really well.

More outsiders? Don't rule out Rui Costa, Wilco Kelderman, Michael Albasini and Bauke Mollema. In our opinion, Simon Gerrans and Zdenek Stybar will save energy for the cobbles.

Tour De France Stage 2