Tour de France 2007 - Tour de France - Stage 8

Stage 8 could be decisive for the entire tour. 3 category 1 climbs in succession and defintly a stage for the climbers and the favourites to show us what they are made of.

Michael Rasmussen who has won the king of the mountains for the last 2 years has a free roll within his team of Rabobank and does not have to ride for Denis Menchov. He has actually stated he wants to ride for a high finish on the GC (possibly even a podium) altho the way he has been riding suggests he wants another polka dot jersey to wear into Paris. He was pretty critical of Menchov today for sitting so far back.

There is not a better climber in the peleton than Rasmussen when he sets his mind to winning a stage and i think he fanices a go at tomorrows. He certainly hinted at it today stating:

”I don’t think that I will leave for a long raid tomorrow. I would like to ride for the victory at the end of the stage, but we’ll decide it at the team meeting this evening. I think the team is riding well, and we have four riders among the 40, so that is ok.

It is a Rasmussen stage.

Carlos Sastre meanwhile is another excellent climber and if he has any designs on winning the tour he will need to put time into his rivals since his time trialing is not good at all. I very much doubt he will be giving it his all this early and will instead just mark the dangers, perhaps follow teammate Schleck and look to not lose the tour.

The trouble with this head to head is that Sastre is guaranteed to be in the top 20 while Rasmussen is either going to be in the top 3 or roll home out of it and could make me look a bit silly.

That said when the favourite to win the stage is an outsider in the head to head and you can get close to 2.0 on him winning it has to be a bet worth taking, especially when you man is the best climber in the peleton.

Pick : Rasmussen to beat Sastre
Odds : 1.95
Stake : 6 / 10
Bookmaker : Nordic Bet
Date : 2007-07-15
Match Result :
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