The brand-new UCI World Tour season begins in Australia with the Tour Down Under. It’s the perfect opportunity to begin the 2024 season with a betting win. You’re gonna want to read this to get our expert picks for the Tour Down Under winner.
- What: Tour Down Under
- Where: Adelaide, South Australia
- When: Tuesday, January 16
2024 Tour Down Under Preview
Let’s begin our preview of the 2024 Tour Down Under with a look at the course ahead. This is a unique race in that it doesn’t favor one style of rider straight up. Instead, what you end up with is a route that is suited for both pure sprinters and thoroughbred climbers — just at different points.
Sprinters will have their fun in the first four stages. Hills are far and few inbetween each of these days. The only long stretch of vertical climbing is during stage 2 which features 3,000m of incline. Expect this to be the area of the race where contenders begin separating themselves from the pack.
Things get heated in stages five and six — the finale of the race. Stage five, during the 3km climb, is another inflection point. Winners and losers will be made during this critical stretch that finishes on the summit of Willunga Hill. Stage six in the slopes of Mount Lofty aren’t nearly as punishing, but at this point in the event, fatigue from the prior five days is very much an issue.
As for who’s competing at the Tour Down Under, welp, the big names are largely skipping the event, which isn't out of the ordinary for the season-opener. That means no Primoz Roglic, Mathieu van der Poel, and Wout van Aert, among others. Heck, even the 2023 winner, Jay Vine, isn’t competing to defend his championship. Of last year’s top-10, only Simon Yates is competing in 2024.
So who is here? Welp, the Tour Down Under betting favorites for the event are listed below. These are the current cycling odds available across the top sportsbooks:
| Rider |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Yates | +150 | +150 | +150 |
| Julian Alaphilippe | +450 | +450 | +450 |
| Lucas Plapp | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Ruben Guerreiro | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Finn Fisher-Black | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Milan Vader | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
Best Bets To Win Tour Down Under
It would be smart to make more than one Tour Down Under bet. Why? Because the season just started and there’s no telling who’s in what type of shape. Throw on the wide-open field and this race is somewhat of a crap shoot. With that said, we’re eyeing two different riders with bets. Start here if you’re betting:
Luke Plapp
Plapp has a lot going for him in this race. Well start with the obvious one: he’s Australian so it’s a home race.
But here’s the more convincing reason to bet Plapp: he’s had success as of late. Not only did Plapp win the time trial, but also the road race at the recent Australian national championships. In other words, momentum is high for the 23-year-old.
Plapp is part of Jayco AlUla so he’ll be flanked by the aforementioned Yates. And honestly, we could see this race coming down to either one. Allow us to explain in the next section.
Simon Yates
As we said, Yates is one of the few major holdovers from last season’s event. He finished runner-up in 2023 so it was a top-notch performance. That experience can only help him compared to a field that’ll be very green to the Tour Down Under route.
Another major reason we’re big on Yates is his climbing ability. He excels in that environment, which could really vault him ahead during stages 2, 5, and 6.
It promises to be a big week for Jayco AlUla. While we don’t know who out of Yates and Plapp prevail, we’re confident one will gut it out. Therefore, throw money on both and let the best man win out.
2024 UCI World Tour Schedule
The betting opportunities are just getting started in cycling. There are 34 more events after this one, all the way through October 2024. We took a hard look at the UCI World Tour schedule and circled these events for betting interest:
- Milan-San Remo — March 16
- Paris-Roubaix — April 7
- Giro’d’Italia — May 4
- Tour de France — June 29
- Vuelta de Espana — August 17
Races like the Tour de France and Milan-San Remo are so big that futures odds are already out for those. We wouldn’t rush to bet them quite yet, but it would be smart to begin preparing.
How To Bet On UCI World Tour Races?
Cycling is a rather niche sport. Niche enough that not every single sportsbook offers World Tour race betting like say the NFL or NBA. However, the bookies featured in the table below definitely have it on the table. These are our top-rated sites in our newest sportsbook review section so any one of them has you covered.
You’ll be happy to know every type of bet for the 2024 season can be had here. That’s mostly straight-up race-winner bets, but occasionally, you’ll get a prop bet for the major races like Tour de France. See for yourself by clicking into one of the “play now” buttons in the table below.
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