Three weeks of freewheeling action in final Grand Tour of 2025.
Road cycling wasn’t a good subject for TV coverage – until the Tour de France introduced dozens of mobile cameras and took viewers on a trip across beautiful landscapes and up awesome mountain passes.
Millions around the world were introduced to bike racing’s thrills and sporting bettors to its profit opportunities.
With this year’s Tour de France and Giro d’Italia done and dusted, it’s time for the third and final Grand Tour, La Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), which started its three-week journey this weekend.
South Africans not as cycling-mad as Europeans might be intimidated by its unfamiliarity. However, a few days of watching a multi-stage race should provide enough basic knowledge to inform a fun punt or two.
Here are a few basics for newbies keen for a flutter on their favourite “sporting travelogue”:
• Keep an eye on riders’ current form and an ear open for commentators’ opinions as the race unfolds.
• Take into account the profile of a stage and match it to specific riders. In addition to sprinters and climbers, there are puncheurs – who excel at short climbs, rolling hills and bursts of speed, rather than long climbs or flat sprints.
• Try to learn the objectives of each rider and each team.
• Watch weather conditions, which could favour certain riders or could see major pileups.
• Avoid odds below 2.00 on risky stages.
• Don’t just bet on famous names.
Favourite to win the Vuelta overall (general classification category) is Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, but his odds of 1.33 make a straight win bet pointless.
Juan Ayuso at 7.00 and Giulio Pellizari at 41.00 are more appealing.
Among head-to-head options, the Winning Team category has Visma-Lease A Bike looking good value at 2.19 versus UAE Team Emirates (1.46).
In general classification, teammates Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss are evenly matched at 1.75 and should provide three weeks of entertainment no matter who is chosen.
Betway odds are correct at time of publishing and subject to change.
