Battle for white jersey takes centre stage on Tour

His rivals have tried mightily to dislodge Tadej Pogacar from the yellow jersey of the Tour de France but he has withstood all the tricks and tactics they’ve applied over three weeks and 18 stages – and simply counterpunched and left them floundering.

He will win the race in Paris on Sunday – you can bet on it. Actually, there’s no point in betting on it; you’ll win just one cent for every rand wagered on the Slovenian superstar at odds of 1.01.

Second-placed Jonas Vingegaard has blown out on an Alpine breeze to 23.00 for the Win.

There are other bets to be had as the Tour winds up – with another mountain stage on Friday and a hilly stage on Saturday, before the honour parade into Paris on Sunday.

Third place and best young rider

One intriguing battle is between Germany’s Florian Lipowitz and Britain’s Oscar Onley for third place overall – and, simultaneously, for the white jersey that signifies the best young rider.

Lipowitz leads Onley by 22 seconds after Thursday’s brutal stage in the Alps, with the latter passing the former on the road of the climb to the Col de la Loze but just failing to pass him on the leaderboard.

Lipowitz has had a superb Tour. He might have simply had a tough moment on Stage 8 and will bounce back on the ascent to the ski resort of La Plagne. However, Onley is looking stronger as the race reaches a climax.

Lipowitz is a 1.65 chance to finish in the top three and Onley is at 2.65. Old warhorse Primoz Roglic is a 5.05 top three chance after hanging in bravely with the top General Classification contenders.

Among the many other offerings from Betway are various prominent riders to win a stage. Among the more appealing here are: Vingegaard (no 1.03, yes 7.15), Onley (1.00, 32.00), Quinn Simmons (1.03, 7.15), Wout van Aert (1.10, 5.00) and Jordi Meeus (1.00, 9.90).

These Betway odds are correct at time of publishing and subject to change.