Betting on Cycling – Wager on the Tour de France
One of the main reasons why betting on cycling or any other sports betting takes place is to make this sport more interesting for its fans; by placing a wager on a possible outcome and element of excitement is added to the event which may not have been present previously. Cycling as a spectator or participation sport is more popular in some countries than it is in others. This doesn't mean that wagers can not be placed, any punter can place bets as easily as with any other sport. It is simple to research this sport online and the Giro d’Italia, as well as the Vuelta a Espana are worth wagering on. All three of the races we have mentioned here are collectively known as the Grand Tours.

There are various types of bets when someone want to bet on cycling and punters who only make bets on the Grand Tours would probably be classified as "occasional punters". These players normally stick to the straight-up bets (in other words on a winner or loser) because they are not all that familiar with competing racers, although now that Lance Armstrong has retired (once again) another likely winner would have to be chosen. For the sake of this exercise, let's assume that Lance is still in with a chance to win.

As with all other sporting bets, different formats are used to list odds, so the punter needs to be able to read the different formats of odds. In the US this is Moneyline, in Australasia, Canada and Europe these are decimal and in the UK they are fractional. Knowing the difference is the key. If a particular fan-base of a sport or sportsbook makes up the majority in any one of these regions, the most popular format for those punters in the majority will be used when betting on cycling online.

When using fractional odds in a straight-up bet at odds of 4/1 that Lance Armstrong will win, the sportsbook is offering the punter $4, for every $1 he or she wagers. Taken in Moneyline odds, this would read +400 and as a decimal this would be 5.00. The reason why the same odds look higher in the decimal format is because that 1 needs to be subtracted, so if it were listed as 4.00, the punter subtracts 1, which gives them $3.00 return for a $1 bet. If the odds read 5.00 the punter knows they are receiving the same value as the Moneyline and fractional odds.

Sportsbooks offer long shot odds for placing bet on cycling with less popular races as this encourages a spread of bets for the entire event. A long shot bet if it pays off can leave the punter feeling very happy with his knowledge or their lucky guess. As with all sports it is also possible to place bets on racers other than only the winner of the entire event. These races are made up of stages and sportsbooks offer odds on which racers will take each of the stages; it is not only about the big prize.