Tour De France / Tobias Gourlay / 24 July 2011 /

Tobias Gourlay hopes to finish a successful Tour de France with a backie from Mark Cavendish

It turns out there is something that can stop Fabian Cancellara winning time trials. The weather. Damp conditions for those who started earlier yesterday hampered his progress and he finished only eighth.

Cadel Evans, however, took a peachy starting slot and stopped this column looking like too much of a plum. He finished second on the stage and paid out our Top 3 Finish bet at [2.60].

The Tour winds up today with a few laps of the Champs-Elysees, as it has since 1975. Only four brave baroudeurs have ever broken away from the peloton and beaten the sprinters to the line. Andy Schleck appears to have an incentive, but tradition will not allow him to attack Evans, the yellow-jersey wearer.

Mark Cavendish ([1.56]), a four-time stage winner already this year, has a perfect record in Paris, winning in 2009 and 2010, each of the two years he has made it this far. Once the Manx Missile is launched on the streets of the capital that his team know so well, Andre Greipel ([12.5]) and Tyler Farrar ([10.0]) are most likely to get past him, but this column would be backing them in hope, not expectation.

Best Bet: Back Mark Cavendish @ [1.56] to be Stage 21 Winner

Follow Tobias on Twitter: @tobiasgourlay

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