Primoz Roglic from Jumbo-Visma is the new favorite to win the 2020 Tour de France after last year’s champion, Egan Bernal, left the Criterium du Dauphine race early due to a back problem. Bernal’s team, Ineos Grenadiers, also announced they dropped two former champions – Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas – from the roster for the upcoming Tour de France. Roglic is now 3/2 odds to win the Tour de France, while Bernal slipped to 9/4 odds to win back-to-back yellow jerseys.
Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin from Jumbo-Visma comes in as the third favorite at +650.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) is the highest French rider on the futures board at +750 or 15/2 odds. Last year’s big surprise, France’s Julian Alaphilippe, is now 33/1 odds to win this year’s Grand Race.
2020 TOUR DE FRANCE ODDS
Primoz Roglic +150
Egan Bernal +225
Tom Dumoulin +650
Thibaut Pinot +750
Tadej Pogacar +1200
Richard Carapaz +1400
Emanuel Buchmann +2200
Julian Alaphilippe +3300
Mikel Landa +3300
Nairo Quintana +3300
Miguel Angel Lopez +3300
Dutch cyclist Steve Kruijswijk from Jumbo-Visma will miss the Tour de France due to an injury. Kruijswijk, who took third in last year’s tour, crashed in Stage 4 of the Criterium du Dauphine and suffered a fractured shoulder.
All three Grand Tour events (France, Italy, Spain) were pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak and pandemic, but all three will take place on top of each other starting with the Tour de France this week.
Froome Dropped, No Shot at 5th Yellow Jersey
Ineos made a harsh decision to cut Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas after a poor Criterium du Dauphine. The two British riders had won five out of the last seven yellow jerseys at the Tour de France.
Froome, a four-time Tour de France champion, missed last year’s race due to nasty crash in Dauphine.
Froome, 35, knew he was a lame-duck with Ineos not interested in re-upping his contract for another season. He would be a free agent at the end of the year, but hoped to ride one last Tour de France with Ineos. He was chasing the ghosts of previous champions and hoping to join the legends of the sport like Bernard ‘The Badger’ Hinault, who have five yellow jerseys.
“People have to remember that I have come back from a horrendous crash last year where I fractured a lot of bones in my body,” said Froome. “The recovery is complete. I don’t have any pain. I don’t have any lingering issues. But, certainly that was a big knock to me and I’m still coming back to that full level of fitness.”
Froome will ride with Israel’s Start-Up Nation next year, but for now, Ineos wants him fresh for the Vuelta a Espana, which starts in late October.
2018 Champ Thomas Also Out
Geraint Thomas, 34, won the 2018 Tour de France and finished in second place last year behind teammate, Egan Bernal. Ineos wants Thomas to focus on gearing up for the Giro d’Italia, which starts in early October.
“It’s nice to finally have a firm plan in place and to know exactly what I’m doing, and to try and get some sort of positive out of this year,” said Thomas.
“It is a bit strange not to have ‘G’ and Froomey at the Tour,” said Bernal.
- Team Ineos Lineup: Egan Bernal, Richard Carapaz, Andrey Amador, Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski, Luke Rowe, Pavel Sivakov, and Dylan van Baarle.
Thomas will be replaced by Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz, who shipped the 2019 Giro d’Italia. Carapaz is 14/1 odds to win the Tour de France.
“Their replacements for Froome and Thomas are impressive riders, but of course it was also a surprise obviously,” said Jumbo-Visma director Merijn Zeeman.