Tour de France Betting Tips: 5/6 Pogacar hard to oppose on Stage 19

• Tadej Pogacar (1.865/6) has shown no signs of weakness so far

• His General Classification rivals must hope for calamity

• Use Betfair's Safer Gambling during the 2024 Tour de France

What's the stage like?

Lofty.

Reaching over 2,800 metres on the Cime de la Bonette, the 145km stage includes two super-category climbs and a summit finish on the category one climb up to Isola 2000. This is hard, largely because so much time is spent above 2,000m, the mystical altitude over which athletes begin to significantly struggle. Any riders who haven't prepared properly will suffer here, and time gaps will be significant.

Who are the favourites?

There is only one. Tadej Pogacar (1.865/6) is short odds-on and rightfully so. Stage 4, Stage 14, and Stage 15 all went his way, and only a lack of appetite on his part would, it seems, prevent him winning here. Before the Tour, there was some talk of high-altitude climbs being his weakness. Going back a few years, that might have been the case, but he's clearly prepared well for the demands of long, high alpine stages, and there is yet to be any sign of the much-heralded post-Giro fatigue that was supposed to scupper his Tour chances.

Who are the most likely outsiders?

Among the General Classification contenders, it's hard to imagine a scenario where Jonas Vingegaard (8.07/1) or Remco Evenepoel (16.015/1) could take the win from Pogacar, short of some crash or other calamity.

For those looking for bigger odds, then, it would be better to choose an altitude-loving breakaway merchant, like Santiago Buitrago (50.049/1), but unless something is amiss with Pogacar, UAE Team Emirates will set such a lightning pace at the front of the peloton that surely any breakaway will be soon doomed.

How will it affect the overall markets?

The General Classification market has a clear pecking order to it now, but this should be an opportunity for Pogacar to deliver further on our pre-Tour recommendation of him as a 9/2 Mountains Classification likely winner as well.

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