Tour de Yorkshire 2019 Cycling Odds, Preview and Prediction

Cycling returns to the shores of England this weekend for the fifth edition of the Tour de Yorkshire.

The Tour de Yorkshire is a cycling road race held in Yorkshire in England. From a three-day race during its inception in 2015 to 2017, it became a four-day race last year. This year’s race will be from May 2-5, 2019 and it will start in Doncaster on May 2 and will finish in Leeds on May 5th.

The race will cover a total distance of 638 kilometers and raced over four days. The course involves a cumulative climb of 3200 meters over four days. Below is a summary of the four stages of the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire:

Stage 1

2 May 2018 — Doncaster to Selby, 189 km (117.4 mi)

Stage 2

3 May 2018 — Barnsley to Bedale, 132 km (82.0 mi)

Stage 3

4 May 2018 — Bridlington to Scarborough, 135 km (83.9 mi)

Stage 4

5 May 2018 — Halifax to Leeds, 182 km (113.1 mi)

Last year, Greg Avermaet won the race. Avermaet returns to defend his title this year and he is the odds on favorite to win the race for the second straight year.

Here are the latest odds to win the Tour de Yorkshire 2019. Odds taken from bet365 as of 5/1/1/19:

Who Are The Favorites?

Greg Van Avermaet leads Team CCC in the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire. The 33-year old from Belgium is hailed as one of the most versatile riders in cycling. Although he is a specialist in the Classics, Van Avermaet has also won stages and the General Classification in stages races, particularly when raced on a hilly terrain like the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire.

But Van Avermaet hasn’t had a start to the year that many expected from the Olympic champion. He was 2nd at the 2019 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 3rd  E3 Binckbank Classic, 6th in the Strade Bianche and 10th in the Tour of Flanders. He suffered a crash at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege to end his Classics season in disappointment.

Nathan Haas was supposed to ride for in Katusha-Alpecin alongside Marcel Kittel who was looking to get back on track after a so-so performance this spring. But Kittel has pulled out of the race due to health reasons. As for Haas, he  last competed in the Tour de Yorkshire in 2016 and is expected to go for the hillier stages notably Stage 2 which borrows from the course of the 2019 Worlds. Haas finished 5th overall in the 2018 Tour of Oman, winning the points classification and Stage 2 of the race.

Serge Pauwels is Greg Van Avermaet’s co-captain at the CCC team. Like Avermaet, Pauwels has won this race before being its 2017 winner and third placer last year. The 35-year old Belgian was also 8th in the 2018  Volta ao Algarve. Pauwels’ win here in 2017 is the biggest win of his career and racing with the best team in the competition gives him another opportunity to duplicate his feat.

A third member of Team CCC is in the Top 4 favorites. Alessandro De Marchi has a good week racing in the Ardennes and is expected to compete along with Van Avermaet and Pauwels. The 32-year old De Marchi is coming off a 7th place finish at the Amstel Gold Race.

Frenchman Jonathan Hivert is 5th in the current oddsboard. The 34-year old from team  Total Direct Énergie is coming off a victory at the 2019 GP Miguel Indurain. Hivert also finished 5th in the  Classic Loire Atlantique and 9th in the Tour du Finistère.

Who Wins?

This is arguably the weakest field in the history of the race with only four World Tour teams competing. Because of that Team CCC arguably has the best lineup in the field with Van Avermaet supported by Pauwels, De Marchi and Michael Schar. CCC has struggled for win this season but with two former winners of the race in Van Avermaet and Pauwels leading them, they are expected to figure significantly in the race.

Cycling betting has three members of Team CCC in the Top four favorites and I think with a mixture of aggressive and tactical racing, they are going to dominate this race. Remember that last year, Van Avermaet won and Pauwels finished third. I’m expecting that kind of finish too this year.

Four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome is racing for the first time in the Tour de Yorkshire but he isn’t expected to compete for the General Classification while putting his focus on the 2019 Tour de France.

I like both Greg Van Avermaet ad Serge Pauwels here and both have won this race before. However, with Pauwels having more betting value, I’m going with Pauwels here.

Prediction: Serge Pauwels.

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