Cycling, also known as road bicycle racing, is a racing sport held on roads, using racing bicycles or road bikes.
Road Races are cycling events where competing riders start in mass or simultaneously (unless in a handicap event). The cyclist who crosses the finish line first is declared as the winner. Individual and team time trials are another form of road races.
Road Racing began as an organized sport in 1868. The first world championship was held in 1893 and cycling has been part of the Olympic Games since the modern system started in Athens in 1896.
Some of Europe's earliest road bicycle races include Liège-Bastogne-Liège (established 1892), Paris-Roubaix (1896), the Tour de France (1903), the Milan-San Remo and Giro di Lombardia (1905), the Giro d'Italia (1909) and the Ronde van Vlaanderen (1913).
Here's a list of today's most popular cycling road races:
Historically, the most competitive and devoted countries in Cycling were European countries like Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.
However as cycling's popularity grew, countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, South Africa and the United States have produced world class cyclists.
As its popularity continues to grow, so is the number of fans that bet on Cycling.
There are generally three ways to bet on Cycling, these are:
Outright Cycling Event Winner - a bet on who will be the outright winner of a Cycling event (e.g. bet on this year's Tour de France Winner).
Cycling Event Stage Winner - a bet on the winner of a Stage in a Cycling event (e.g. bet on the winner of this year's Stage 1 Vuelta a España).
Head-to-Head - a bet on who will have a better finish between two specified cyclists (e.g. Tadej Pogacar v Remco Evenepoel). Also known as a Match Bet.
In a bet on the outright winner of a Cycling event, sports betting sites list the competing cyclists with their corresponding odds, just like the following:
| Outright Winner | |
|---|---|
| Tadej Pogacar | 2/1 |
| Jonas Vingegaard | 3/1 |
| Remco Evenepoel | 7/1 |
| Jasper Philipsen | 10/1 |
| Mathieu Van Der Poel | 15/1 |
| Primoz Roglic | 18/1 |
| Mads Pedersen | 18/1 |
| Wout Van Aert | 18/1 |
| Aleksandr Vlasov | 18/1 |
| Juan Ayuso | 18/1 |
Let's say you placed a €10.00 bet on Tadej Pogacar to win this year's Tour de France. If Tadej Pogacar win the Tour de France, at odds of 2/1, your bet wins €20.00 for a total payout of €30.00 (original bet plus winnings).
Sometimes, sports betting sites list only one cyclist against The Field, like:
| Outright Winner | |
|---|---|
| Jonas Vingegaard | 1/2 |
| The Field | 6/4 |
The Field, of course, represents all other cyclists competing in the event.
Let's say you bet on The Field. If a cyclist other than Jonas Vingegaard wins the event, at odds of 6/4, your €10.00 bet will win €15.00 for a total payout of €25.00.
In a bet on the Stage Winner of a Cycling event, betting sites list the competing cyclists for a particular stage, similar to the examples above.
In a Cycling Head-to-Head or Match Bet, betting sites list two competing cyclists and their corresponding odds, like:
| 1/2 | Tadej Pogacar v Remco Evenepoel | 5/4 |
| 4/7 | Jonas Vingegaard v Jasper Philipsen | 5/4 |
| 13/10 | Mathieu Van der Poel v Primoz Roglic | 4/7 |
Let's say you picked Tadej Pogacar over Remco Evenepoel. If Tadej Pogacar finishes better than Remco Evenepoel, at odds of 1/2, your €10.00 bet will win €5.00 for a total payout of €15.00.
They key to winning a bet on cycling is carefully considering the form of the cyclist and comparing his strengths and weaknesses to the terrain or profile of a given stage or event.
Cyclists usually participate in tune-up races prior to competing in the Tour de France. If a cyclist struggles in the tune-up races and he is not up to form coming in to Cycling's biggest stage, his chance of wearing the yellow jersey at the Paris podium may be bleak.
Cyclists are usually categorized as sprinters or climbers. Climbers generally excel in mountain stages while sprinters are generally successful in flat stages.
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