This was supposed to be the year that Lance Armstrong returned victoriously to the world of online wagering action, culminating with a triumphant return up the Champs l’Esyee and claiming his eight Tour de France betting title.
Everything was lining up so perfectly. Everyone and their brother was making an online wager on the 38-year old American to pull through once again as he’d done so many times in his illustrious career and add another big time online wagering victory to his collection.
But anyone that made an online wager on Armstrong standing on the top spot of the podium on July 25th has already lost their money.
While he looked like a one of the favorites coming into this year’s Tour de France and rode well for the first few days Armstrong’s chances of winning the 2010 Tour de France are now finished.
Bad luck has plagued his comeback season and despite having a great team with top talent, top sponsors and a terrific team manager, sometimes things just don’t work out. As Armstrong said himself, “When it rains it pours” and during Sunday’s stage it was most definitely pouring.
Never before in his previous seven Tour de France online wagering victories had Armstrong crashed. And while that may have been extraordinary good luck the online wager Gods got their payback this year in a race that has seen Armstrong go down nearly every day in some sort of crash or at the very least slowed by equipment failure or a flat tire. On Sunday’s stage alone he went down three times in crashes, one which bloodied his hip, ripped his jersey and according to team sources prevented him from pedaling at top speed.
As this is Armstrong’s final Tour de France online wagering competition it is now safe to say that his own cycling betting record of seven Tour de France wins will stay at seven.
But the online wagering race is just beginning for the top contenders, among them Armstrong’s Team Radioshak teammate Levi Leipheimer. Leipheimer is just 2 minutes and 14 seconds behind Tour leader Cadel Evans. Two minutes can be a massive gap in this race but Leipheimer still has a chance considering he’s a gifted all around rider at both climbing and time trialing and he’ll have the most talented teammate helping of any of the contenders.
Right now the top three racers, Evans, Andy Schleck (-20 sec) and defending Tour de France betting champ Alberto Contador (-1 min 1 sec) are without a doubt the favorites. They ride for the strongest teams and are the best riders.