Tour De France Stage 18 predictions, betting tips, odds and free bets (Briançon > Izoard - July 20, 2017)

Tour De France Stage 18 is a 179.5km run from Briançon to Izoard, and will be third and final summit finish of this year's race. This article contains our Tour De France Stage 18 betting preview, best odds, predictions on Winner & Head to Head, betting offers & no deposit free bets on this weekend's sports events!

TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 18 BETTING PREVIEW 

Stage 18 is the last mountain day of the race and hits the riders with two difficult Alpine climbs - after the short category 3 climb Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées - the first being the Vars, which summits with 50km to go and the second being the Col d'Izoard, a 14.1 kilometre-long 'Beyond Category' climb at 7.3%.

• Km 60.0 – Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées 3.9 kilometre-long climb at 5.2% – category 3
• Km 129.5 – Col de Vars (2 109 m) 9.3 kilometre-long climb at 7.5% – category 1
• Km 179.5 – Col d’Izoard (2 360 m) 14.1 kilometre-long climb at 7.3% – category H

With a time trial looming on Stage 20, the climbers will need to capitalise on every opportunity they can to gain time.

Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran had all tested each other on the long gradual climb of the famed Galibier on Stage 17, but no one looked able to gain ground as they could only shake off Astana's Fabio Aru.

Should Bardet or Uran want to ride into Paris on Sunday in the yellow jersey, they need to attack on the punishing slopes up to Izoard and hope Froome cracks because he is expected to take time off them during Saturday's time trial in Marseille.



Fabio Aru comes from a disappointing day on Wednesday. The Italian had been dropped before the top of the Galibier, conceding more than 30 seconds to lose his grip on second place overall. Considering that Aru is not a good time-trialist, we expect him to be the first to attack on the Col d'Izoard. But he seems to have lost the impressive form of the first week.

Dan Martin fought hard during stage 17 of the Tour de France to move up one place to sixth with a battling performance 24 hours after he was caught out in crosswinds and gave up two spots in the general classification. Anyway, the Irishman is struggling as soon as the gradients go above 10%.

Simon Yates still holds the white jersey as overall leader in the competition but he doesn't look as brilliant as he would need to win a stage.

The tireless Warren Barguil looks to have secured the KOM Jersey and is fighting to make the Top 10 in the General Classification. He was one of the best climbers on the Galibier and we expect him to have another glorious day on the Izoard.

Primoz Roglic, a fantastic winner of the Stage 17, is expected to be tired as well as Alberto Contador and Darwin Atapuma, who were both on attack all day long on Wednesday. Other exhausted riders should be Bauke Mollema, Serge Pauwels, Mathias Frank, Jarlinson Pantano and Diego Ulissi.

Of course, there is a high chance to have another winning breakaway and we should look at climbers who are still fresh enough to mantain their gap on the final ascent.

Tiesj Benoot, Alexis Vuillermoz, Pierre Rolland, Lilian Calmejane, Gianluca Brambilla, Alessandro De Marchi and Steve Cummings could be the right names for bettors who want to back dark horses.

Given the poor form, we rule out Nairo Quintana, Thomas Voeckler, Andrey Amador, Carlos Betancur and Esteban Chaves while Louis Meintjes is expected to run - as usual - in a defensive mode.

TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 18 ODDS 

• Chris Froome @ 4.00
• Rigoberto Uran @ 7.00
• Romain Bardet @ 7.00
• Mikel Landa @ 10.00
• Warren Barguil @ 13.00
• Fabio Aru @ 21.00
• Daniel Martin @ 23.00
• Alberto Contador @ 34.00
• Primoz Roglic @ 34.00
• Bauke Mollema @ 67.00
• Carlos Betancur @ 67.00
• Nairo Quintana @ 57.00
• Steve Cummings @ 67.00
• Serge Pauwels @ 81.00
• Louis Meintjes @ 81.00
• Damiano Caruso @ 101.00
• Darwin Atapuma @ 126.00
• Simon Yates @ 126.00
• Thomas de Gendt 126.00
• Tiesj Benoot @ 126.00
• Emanuel Buchmann @ 151.00
• Alexis Vuillermoz @ 151.00
• Daniel Navarro @ 151.00
• Jarlinson Pantano @ 151.00
• Lilian Calmejane @ 151.00

TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 18 PREDICTIONS

• Winner: Romain Bardet @ 7.00
• Winner: Warren Barguil @ 13.00
• Winner: Alexis Vuillermoz @ 151.00
• Head to Head: Bardet to beat Froome @ 2.50
• Head to Head: Roglic to beat Atapuma @ 1.83
  
• Head to Head: Barguil to beat Contador @ 1.36

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