Tour de France 2011 Betting Preview: Contador odds on, followed by Andy Schleck

PARIS, FRANCE - On the 24th of July the World's elite of cycling will begin the 2011 Tour de France, the most prestigious event in cycling and one of the toughest sporting challenges in any field. Alberto Contador is the bookies favourite to defend his crown on the tough 2011 course, and is best priced at 5/7 (bet $70 to make $50 profit) with Bet365.

Contador won the Giro D'Italia last week by a staggering six minutes and ten seconds, ahead of Michelle Scarponi who was closely followed by fellow Italian Vincenzo Nibali. Provided Contador is not too distracted by a hearing regarding his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs, which has been postponed until after the Tour de France, the Spaniard should have very high hopes going into the world-famous event. Those wanting to back against Contador may fancy betting "the field" (all the other riders on the Tour) at odds of 11/8 with Boyle Sports against Contador.

In the betting, Contador's main challenge is from Luxembourgish cyclist Andy Schleck, who was runner up to Contador last year and is best priced at 9/4 with Stan James to go one better this year. Schleck is certainly a rising talent in the sport and his brother also competes with him in the Leopard-Trek team, who are likely to do well on this year's mountainous course. Frank Schleck is priced at 14/1 with Stan James to win the Tour. In the betting without Contador market, Schleck is a strong odds-on favourite, top priced at 8/11 with Ladbrokes.

Another high in the betting is Ivan "the terrible" Basso, who won the Giro d'Italia in 2006 and 2010. The strong Italian racer is priced at 9/1 with Paddy Power to win in the without Contador market. Other names to look out for are Bradley Wiggins and Samuel Sanchez. Wiggins is priced at 50/1 with Stan James but the speedy time-trialist may struggle on the especially tough mountainous climbs, which are particularly gruelling this year. Sanchez is priced at 28/1 with Stan James to win the race and 20/1 with Ladbrokes to win in the without Contador market.

Stan James are also offering odds on how many different riders will win a stage of the Tour de France and under 5.5 different riders is priced at 8/13 with Stan James and over 5.5 is priced at 6/5 with the same bookmaker.

Tour de France 2011 Winner W/O Contador Odds