On Tuesday, April 27th, Richie Porte and the rest of the peloton will take the starting line in Oron, Switzerland for the 74th edition of the Tour de Romandie, which is a six-day event that concludes on Sunday, May 2nd.
For Porte, this will be his third race of the season. He last competed at the Volta a Catalunya in the end of March where he finished 2nd overall behind teammate Adam Yates. Another teammate Geraint Thomas finished 3rd in that race as Team Ineos Grenadiers swept the podium.
They also have a good shot at sweeping the podium at the Tour de Romandie this week as Thomas, Porte and Rohan Dennis are three of the Top 4 betting favorites.
Can Porte pick up his first race win since Stage 3 of the 2020 Santos Tour Down Under?
El británico Adam Yates conquista la edición del centenario con sus dos compañeros Richie Porte y Geraint Thomas #segrehttps://t.co/szhtRDF9hE
— SEGRE (@SEGREcom) March 29, 2021
Richie Porte Betting Odds
The following odds are courtesy of the top cycling betting sites:
- To Win (+220)
- Top 3 (-120)
Porte enters as the second odds on favorite to win the race just behind teammate Geraint Thomas (+125). His Top 3 odds offer value at -120 despite being such a sizable favorite to win outright.
In comparison, Steven Kruijswijk has the third highest odds of winning the Tour de Romandie at +800. His Top 3 odds are +200.
Previous Tour de Romandie Experience
This will be Richie Porte’s 9th appearance in the Tour de Romandie. Porte won this race in 2017. His last appearance came in 2018 where he finished 3rd.
Porte has one Tour de Romandie stage win which came in the individual time trial of 2010. He also has five additional podium finishes. Four of those five podium results were in the time trials.
The 2021 Tour de Romandie features two time trials. A 4km ITT in the prologue and a 16.2km ITT on Stage 5.
Take Porte to Finish in the Top 3
In 2021, Porte returned to Team Ineos, formerly known as Team Sky, for the first time since 2015. During his time with Team Sky, Porte was a valuable domestique for three Tour de France winning teams before leaving to be the leader of BMC Racing.
Porte said it was a dream come true to return to Ineos as he winds down his career. It certainly was a dream scenario at the Volta a Catalunya last month when Porte joined two of his Ineos’ teammates on the podium.
According to online betting sites, there’s a chance that three Ineos riders could finish on the podium for the 2021 Tour de Romandie as well.
Pick: Richie Porte
Odds: -120
$100 Could Win You…$183.33
Both Porte and Geraint Thomas, who were on the podium at Catalunya, are expected to finish on the podium for this race. They could be joined by teammate Rohan Dennis who is the favorite to win both time trials. Because of the multiple time trials, Porte is one of the pre-race favorites as he’s proven to be one of the best time trialists among the GC riders.
I fully expect Porte to be near the top of each time trial and ahead of almost all of the other GC contenders. If his legs are good on Stage 4’s mountain finish at Thyon then Porte could actually win the Tour de Romandie. With that said, let’s play it safe by taking Porte to finish in the Top 3 as we’re still getting good value at -120 odds.
Rick Rockwell
As a longtime freelance writer, avid sports fan, former athlete, and experienced sports bettor, Rick Rockwell has risen up the ranks at GamblingSites.org to become the self-professed “King of the Blog” in his first year with the site. …
