The Tours de France is the most glamorous cycle race in the world, and one with a huge tradition. This year it is even more special than usual for this will be the hundredth time it has been run. Each of its 21 stages will be held in mainland France and Corsica (also French owned) from where it will begin. Let’s look at the betting.

The question is do you bet on last year’s winner Bradley Wiggins at odds of 16/1? Normally you wouldn’t hesitate unless there was a very significant reason for not doing so; it would be a no brainer. With the current favourite Chris Froome priced at 7/5 and second favourite Alberto Contador at 11/4, 16/1 would seem to be a very good offer.

The problem is that this season has been far from one of Wiggins’ best. His performance generally has been fairly lacklustre and his recent retirement from the Giro d’Italia and the grounds of sickness has done his cause no good at all. He has also been showing signs of stress too; picking up your bike and slinging it at a wall is no way to court the sporting press.
However those are very long odds and it is difficult to see how they reflect reality. This could be a golden opportunity to strike while the iron is hot.

Thomas Voeckler had high hopes from the Dwars door Vlaanderen but at the final moments, his late attack backfired and he missed the title win. The Dwars door Vlaanderen was won by Oscar Gatto and that left Voeckler behind.

Voeckler said at a press conference after the race that “it’s not the legs but the win that matters at the end of the day”. It was quiet evident that he was pretty disappointed with the final turnout of the tournament.

Volcker had managed to skip ten cyclists and was ahead of them all but the final attack was miscalculated which lead to this kind of a result. Volcker came fifth and was 15 meters away from the finish line when Gatto made it there first.

Voeckler was amazing on the cobbled roads of brick and grime and his sheer skill and determination as evident in every stroke of his bike. Everyone’s eyes were on him. But the disaster started to unfold when Voeckler tried to take a short cut to the finish line while the others went on ahead. Viewers watched it all in disbelief on the big screen as when he came back to the main track many were ahead of him and he was cycling on hard to finish first as well. Volcker said that he will definitely take up this loss as a lesson to stick to his plan and not take risks at final moments.

Voeckler said that he will take this loss on his stride and will look forward to the future. There are many one day races coming up and he said he is aiming to win those at the moment. Even critics and fans are pretty sure that he will be able to nail these races in the future from now on.

French road race rider Thomas Voeckler suffered a fall during the second stage of the Tour du Haut Var. Voeckler was caught in a collective fall and the numerous accidents made things immensely difficult for his Europcar Team, though it displayed some aggressive riding over the weekend.

Voeckler hurt his left knee during the fall. He finished the stage 2’21 after winner Lars Boom of Team Blanco. Though the team doctor is not worried about Voeckler’s injury right at the moment, team sources have said that the doctor wants to see how the injury evolves in the following days.

If the injury does not turn out to be very serious, like Voeckler’s fans hope, the 34 year old cyclist is expected to do well this year. He was the best climber in Tour de France in 2012 and also the double stage winner.

Earlier, while speaking to reporters during the presentation of his Europcar Team Voeckler spoke about something more than ambitious goals. Later, he admitted that it was one of his tactics to keep pressure away. He said, “Though I have no specific idea in mind it is just my way of telling people not to expect whistles and bells from me always. All I try to do is enjoy myself and then see how things go. It takes the pressure off me, though I do not necessarily feel it”.

Talking about his experiences at the Tour de France and how it helped him in shaping his career, Voeckler said, “The Tour de France played a dominant role in my career and maybe it did de-complex me as well. The Tour of 2011 helped me to become more confident on mountainous and hilly terrain.”

Voeckler said that he was in top shape during the Tour de France this year; he will not be dumped by the best.