Bookmakers’ Top Cyclists Expected to Compete in the Tour de France 2019 10 Jul 2019, 9:51 am

When betting on cycling, the key thing is to get familiar with the riders, track their form and recognize their strengths and weaknesses. Similarly as in skiing, you need to know the track and prepare your body for a lot of heavy work – fans of the said discipline can read more on szydlowiecki.eu about how the Polish have won and overcome their fears. If this is too much, cycling might be perfect for you. If, for example, you prefer horse racing, check out horseracingtips.org.uk. In the past several years, a group of cycling riders has been separating themselves from the pack, becoming regular favorites for the events to come.

Tour de France is the most popular cycling event of the year, and if you want to bet on Tour de France you better hurry up! We can always look to escape the dread of anticipation by taking a closer look at what the bookmakers have to say about the top 5 contenders for the coveted yellow jersey:

1. Chris Froome is a British cyclist and a member of Team Sky which is currently holding all three titles on the Grand Tour. His last title was the 2018 Giro d’Italia despite the unfortunate mishap of crashing in the recon for the first time-trial race in Jerusalem. Chris has won the Tour de France 4 times, and considering his recent form and achievements there is no doubt to why he is the main contender for winning the prestige competition in 2019.
2. Tom Dumoulin comes from the Netherlands and is a member of Team Sunweb. Over the past several years he became renowned as the time-trialing expert. After adding climbing to one of his specialties, he will definitely be a force to be reckoned with at the next Tour de France. And while winning Giro d’Italia in 2017 is his only title from the Grand Tour to date, finishing 2nd in this year’s Tour de France along with his recent performances have earned him his rightful place among the favorites.
3. Geraint Thomas is a Welsh cyclist and another member of Team Sky on the top 5 list. Before focusing on road cycling, Thomas has competed in track cycling with great success, winning three championships and two Olympic gold medals. In 2018 he became the first ever Welshman to win the Tour de France, gaining the lead in the 11th stage which he managed to maintain throughout the rest of the competition.
4. Primoz Roglic comes from Slovenia and is currently representing the Team LottoNL–Jumbo. A former junior World Ski Jumping Champion, Roglic made the switch to road cycling in 2012, quickly proving his talent and potential. Even though the height of his achievement on the Tour de France are 2 individual stage victories in the past couple of years, 2018 has been a real success thus far, with him winning three stage race titles including Tour de Tour of the Basque Country, Tour de Romandie, and Tour of Slovenia.
5. Richie Porte is an Australian cyclist competing for the BMC Racing Team. After winning the young rider classification at the 2010 Giro d’Italia, Porte moved to Team Sky in 2012. He played the part of the super-domestique and contributed to three of his team’s Tour de France victories, riding alongside Bradley Wiggins in 2012, and Chris Froome in 2013 and 2015. In 2016 he had made the switch to BMC Racing Team and since then he has won three stage race titles, the last one being the Tour de Suisse in 2018.

Tour de France 2019 may be a long way away, but it’s never too early to get acquainted with the top riders who will be the center of attention. Even though the months ahead will bring unforeseen spikes and drops in form, as well as injury woes, it’s never too early to have fun and prepare your bets for what will surely be a wonderful cycling spectacle.

Fundamentals of Getting Into Mountain Biking 17 Jun 2019, 9:44 am

If you’re looking to get away from all the city noise, explore beautiful landscapes and intact portions of nature, all the while challenging yourself both physically and mentally, then mountain biking might just be the thing for you.

Well, the more appropriate term would be off-road cycling, because that’s what makes it unique. The unpredictability of the terrain, full of scattered obstacles like rocks and holes will get your adrenaline going and add a whole new meaning to the words ‘reaction-time’. If you’re a fan of this activity so much so that you love being updated on similar events, you can read more here and expand your knowledge.

Mountain biking includes different categories, ranging from basic disciplines like cross-country riding to more extreme ones like downhill mountain biking or freeride. It’s important to take things slow, especially if you’ve never experienced anything other than the smoothness of a city bicycle lane. Since mountain biking falls into the category of more challenging and in some cases extreme sports, there are two things to consider in terms of precaution – equipment and training.

The Equipment

You need to make sure that you have adequate equipment. It will be your safety net, and in some scenarios, everything you’ll have to rely on since you will probably be miles away from civilization at any given time.

Picking out the right bike is the first step, and different bikes work best for different scenarios. While online shopping is convenient for most things, but when getting the right mountain bike, you need to make time to go to the shop. People working there will definitely be able to answer all of your questions, hand in a couple of tips and help you make the right decision.

While you’re down there, get the rest of your essentials. A Helmet is a must, eyewear and gloves will go a long way and you should never even consider going anywhere without a full water bottle and a first aid kit. Lastly, you will need a fully stacked repair kit. Get familiar with all of your tools and learn how to use them, because it will be crucial for getting yourself out of a sticky situation.

The Training

Now that you’re fully equipped, you’ll need to work on the athletic and skill side of things. Past experience in cycling is useful, but mountain biking demands different levels of endurance, balance and reaction time. You will need time to get acquainted with your bike and practice the basics like breaking and shifting.

The key is to start off slow and pick a short patch of terrain that you’re confident you can take on. Try to choose a spot a little closer to the city, because it will save you a lot of headaches in case you get into some trouble. Finally, consider asking a friend to join you. It’s always good to have a companion or two the first couple of times you go off-road.

After the first couple of rides, your confidence will start kicking in, and you’ll probably be yearning to challenge yourself further. This is an absolutely natural part of the process, just try to remember to take things gradually and don’t get disheartened in case of early mishaps. It takes time.

The Ultimate Guide for Betting on Mountain Biking 26 May 2019, 9:34 am

When you think about placing a bet, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably Matchbook bonus code, not mountain-biking. Having said that, if you’ve had experience with and enjoy betting on races, mountain biking might just be the thing for you. It might seem unusual, but it’s as competitive a sport as any, jam-packed with adrenalin, full of excitement and unpredictability, all of which are ingredients that will guarantee an exceptional betting experience.

What’s so Special About Mountain Biking?

Mountain biking is a cycling sport defined by its off-road terrain. It has many different categories ranging from more standard events like cross-cycling to downhill mountain biking, which is the more extreme version of the sport. But across all competitions, mountain biking is an opportunity to watch elite athletes put their endurance, stamina and mental capacities to the test in the context of magnificent countrysides, awe-inspiring landscapes, and unforgiving conditions.

How to Bet on Mountain Biking Events?

Betting on mountain biking is quite simple, and not much different from betting on cycling or any other racing event for that matter. You can make outright bets where you try and guess the winner of the overall competition, and there are numerous categories to choose from for each event. Once you spend a little time getting yourself acquainted with the sport, and learn more about the competitions and the riders, you can spice things by trying to guess the winners of different stages or betting on which place a rider will finish in. Sometimes the real fun starts when you explore the world of proposal bets. If approached with a little dose of creativity, your possibilities will increase exponentially.   

The Biggest Competitions to Watch and Bet on?

UCI World Cup Series is a multi-round competition which was first held back in 1989 as a cross-country event, adding other categories and events in years to come. The races and events are held throughout the year, all over the world in places like Canada, South Africa, Germany, Austria, and Scotland to name a few.

Enduro World Series is an international mountain bike championship traditionally held across the world, spread out from late March to the end of September. With demanding uphill and downhill segments, it’s one of the most physically challenging off-road competitions out there.

UCI MTB World Championships is a mountain bike competition where nations compete in three separate disciplines, including cross country, downhill, and four-cross. The winner of each discipline is awarded a rainbow-colored jersey which they then wear for an entire season when competing in events from the same category.

Lastly, every four years the best cross-country mountain bikers gather to compete at the Summer Olympics. Next competition will be held in Tokyo 2020.

Top Riders Out There

The most dominant rider in men’s cross-country is without of doubt Nino Schurter, the reigning World Cup, World Championships and Olympic champion. Other honorable mentions include Maxime Marotte and Jaroslav Kulhavy. For women’s cross-country, Jenny Rissveds is the current Olympic champion from Rio 2016, with Jolanda Neff and Annika Langvad making noteworthy achievements in the past couple of years.

In men’s downhill events Aaron Gwin, Amaury Pierron, and Troy Brosnan are currently on top of their game, while for the women’s downhill, Rachel Atherton, Tahnee Seagrave, and Tracey Hannah are the ones to look out for.

Training Equipment Essentials That Will Take Your Cycling to the Next Level 9 Apr 2019, 9:29 am

If you’re seeking to improve yourself, in whatever shape or form, there is always one key ingredient around which you can develop, organize and improve your training process. It doesn’t matter if you’re strength training, technique perfecting or even if you’re trying to work on the mental aspects of your performance. In order to maximize your gains, you always need reliable, consistent, and accurate feedback.

Over the years technological advancements have been very kind to cyclists, resulting in all kinds of specialized equipment meticulously designed to improve every single aspect of your ride. The basic first step to leveling up are heart rate monitors, power meters and cycle computers.

Heart Rate Monitors

Heart rate monitors are pretty common to most physically challenging sports or even to passionate sports lovers who bet on the Super Bowl and want to make sure the win or the loss doesn’t send them into overdrive! Over the years they have gotten cheaper, more accurate and available to everyone.

Tracking your pulse and heart rate will tell you how intense your workout is and you’ll be able to modify your approach in order to get the biggest results. By using well-established formulas, you can calculate your personal zones of performance, each affecting a specific segment of your training. For example, if you’re doing recovery or injury prevention, you should be aiming for a lower heart rate. But when looking to maximize your speed and performance, you’ll need to get your heart pumping to the highest rates. It’s best to consult your physician before adding heart rate monitoring to your training, just to make sure you’re safe at all times and not overreaching.

Power Meters

A cycling power meter is a device that is designed to measure your power output. It will help you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses, and you’ll be able to quantify and track specific movements in order to optimize your efforts in training. Different power meters are placed on different parts of the bike, and they can be added to the rear hub, the bottom bracket, the crank meters or to the pedals. Similarly to using heart rate monitors, you should calculate out your zones by using the standard Functional Threshold Power Test and plan your training accordingly.

Cycle computers

The biggest perk of this device is that you will instant data about your ride available in terms of speed, distance, and cadence (pedaling rate). The newer models have additional features like GPS, maps and navigation, specialized training programs, and they can also integrate with your heart rate monitors and power meters. There are many apps available that can be used as an alternative, but the potential downside could be that you’ll be relying on your phone’s battery and data, which isn’t the best option for long training sessions or for when you are out on the countryside.

Top Yearly Cycling Events Held in Las Vegas 11 Mar 2019, 10:21 am

Las Vegas is well-known for being the entertainment capital of the world. But aside from being synonymous with gambling and rich nightlife, Vegas is also known for its beautiful landscapes and mesmerizing terrain. In terms of cycling, it offers plenty to be captivated with along with great opportunities to challenge yourself whether you’re a novice or an experienced rider, as well as to use Betfred promo code. So pump up those tires, fill up your water bottles and fine-tune those breaks, because here come the top annual Las Vegas cycling events you’ll definitely want to consider being a part of.

Gran Fondo Las Vegas

Gran Fondo, which can be loosely translated from Italian to mean “the Big Ride”, are mass participation cycling events which are each year becoming more and more popular worldwide. Since the first race was held in Cesenatico, Italy back in the 70’s, Gran Fondo has been spreading all over the world to places like the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa and more.

This year’s Gran Fondo Las Vegas was held in March and the event was fully supported with 5 feed zones spread out along the route, along with roving SAG vehicles. Each rider got to wear a timing chip, and the results were posted at the end of the race. The route is 100 miles long, but for those who find this to be too much of a challenge, there is also the Mini Fondo option, a 70-mile ride with significantly less climbing.

Tour de Summerlin

With the first ever race being organized in 2002, Tour de Summerlin is South Nevada’s longest running cycling event. It is a non-competitive event with a special focus on rider safety, offering an abundance of cycling lanes which contributes to the easy-going feel of the ride. There are three distances to choose from – 20, 40 and 80 miles long. The organizers are aiming to make the Tour de Summerlin the ‘most rider-friendly bicycle event in the Southwest’.

Las Vegas Red Rock Time Trial

This is an annual time-trial racing event hosted by the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition. Across the 11.8 mile route, the time is tracked for each rider separately as they start off individually at 60-second intervals between them. It offers competition across categories separated by gender and by whether you are a professional rider or not.

Goldilocks Vegas

This event is for women only, but men are welcome to join the Mama & Papa Bear Support Crew. It offers 5 different routes of different lengths (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 miles long). The rides are being held in the gorgeous Red Rock Canyon area of Las Vegas. The organizers of the Goldilocks take special pride in the fact that they provide full support for their riders, including fully stocked rest stops, a dispatch number to call if in need of assistance or in case of emergency, and several SAG vehicles which patrol during the route offering transport. This year’s ride will be held on October 20th.

Individual Time Trial Bicycle Races – How to Challenge Yourself 6 Feb 2019, 12:54 pm

If you want to know how you measure up to yourself, this is the best kind of race. You race alone, against the clock, so the only thing you have to beat is yourself. Well, this is if you are not a professional and competing on the world stage.

Time trial races are found everywhere and cycling is no different. In cycling, however, they are on hard, paved roads and are usually around 8 kilometers long, sometimes going as far as 40 kilometers. They are usually a part of grand tours, being stages. If not a stage, then they can also be a prologue, which are shorter races, up to 8 kilometers. There are also mountain time trials, which are much more difficult.

A notable time trial race takes place in Madrid in Spain as part of the Vuelta a España. It is a final individual time trial which decides the winner. This type of race and event provided a lot of excitement and often, drama. Many have seen their leads be destroyed in that final time trial race.

The Tactical Race

Oftentimes, cycling is a very tactical sport and is often called chess on wheels. This makes the time trial races even more tactical than some might think. What makes people shine in time trial races are a couple of features, both physical and mental. You should have a steady, but powerful cadence which automatically means that your pedaling technique should be spotless.

Having a controlled heart rate is essential to a good time trial result, which in turn means that your breathing technique should also be spotless. While some consider breathing exercises to be boring and uninteresting, they are essential to any endurance based sport, or exercise in general. The body tends to move and work better if you match your breathing to the exercise in hand, regardless of the sport. Cycling benefits greatly from a steady breathing rhythm.

Being aerodynamic is also important, as every bit of speed matter, the less resistance, the better. Likewise, the athlete should know when they are near their anaerobic threshold. This is when your body starts producing lactic acid. You should save your energy and work in the aerobic field, giving it all, or going into your VO2MAX zone near the end of the time trial. Do know that once you start sprinting, you might burn out and not have enough power left to finish the trial (just think of cycling up a hill and burning out, only to find out there’s more ascending to be done, while your legs are literally giving up).

Time trial races are very entertaining and are a great way of measuring your own performance, not to mention earning jerseys if you are good enough.

The Grand Tour: The Biggest Yearly Road Cycling Events You Don’t Want to Miss 23 Jan 2019, 10:14 am

Road cycling is one of the world’s toughest sports in terms of endurance, both physically and mentally. It’s getting more popular each year, and people are not only massively getting involved but also there are more and more betting offers for those races usually offered by some bigger betting sites like the ones featured on all-best-betting-sites.com. If you’re wondering what the most popular races are, at the highest levels, year-long training and competing come down to three ultimate, multi-stage races also known as the Grand Tour.

Tour de France

Dating back to 1903., Tour de France is the most well-known cycling event in the world. It consists of 21 stages, and over the course of three weeks, numerous athletes from all parts of the world will compete for the prestige yellow jersey.

The competition is traditionally held in July, and the next one will be held from the 6th to the 28th, 2019.

Giro d’Italia

Since the 1960’s, the departure point of each Giro d’Italia has changed, but the format stayed more or less the same. The competition is split into mass-start stages, individual and team time trials, stage towns and the mountain stages that traditionally include passing through the Alps. In the end, the cyclist with the shortest average time across all stages wins the coveted pink jersey. For the last decade, as a rule, every couple of years the competition had a “foreign start”, the last one being held in Jerusalem. The next Giro d’Italia will be held sometime at the end of May 2019.

Vuelta a España

The youngest of all three Grand Tours is Vuelta a España, first being held in 1935. The format is pretty similar to the other two competitions, but the color of the title-winning jersey in Spain is red. Even though the route varies each year, certain elements are always a part of the race, like the passage through the Pyrenees, and the traditional finish in Madrid. Vuelta a España is usually held at the end of August and lasts until mid-September.

How to Bet on Road Cycling

Watching elite cyclists at their best is a lot of fun in itself, but if you’re looking to heighten the experience, there are plenty of events you can place a bet on. Option one is simple, straight bets where you’re betting on who will win the race. The fact that there are so many different stages and categories on the Grand Tour, means you have a lot of options to choose from. But, if you prefer to get more creative, you can always go with any of the special bets available, some of which are really outside of the box. Remember to research the rider’s past achievements and experience, and take time to shop around for the best odds.

Cycling and Illegal Substances – A Stain on the Cycling World 14 Dec 2018, 12:49 pm

The world of cycling is very competitive and sometimes, when people want that extra edge to tower over their competition, they resort to drugs. Steroids of various kinds have been seen throughout cycling history.

Here is an overview of what sorts of illegal substances have been taken during the relatively modest professional cycling history.

The First Time’s the Worst

While this might not be true in general, when it comes to cycling and illegal substances, the first documented case resulted in a death. In 1886, a Welsh cyclist died of an overdose of cocaine, caffeine and strychnine during the Bordeaux-Paris race. This was not illegal at the time and was considered a normal, if not even a frequent thing. Today, however, caffeine is legal, yet cocaine definitely isn’t.

The Following Cases in the 19th and 20th century

Unfortunately, illegals substances and performance enhancers are very popular in sports and while illegal, they also pose a threat to the human body. Abuse of the said substances can lead to permanent organ damage and death.

The first documented death only paved the way for more athletes. Next on this grim list is Arthur Linton, who died out of exhaustion and typhoid fever. This was most likely due to drugs. Choppy Warburton, a notorious manager and racer, was said to be responsible for this train of thought. He was known as a drug abuser in the sport community of the 19th century.

An interesting thing to note that in the 1930s, drugs were so common in cycling that the Tour de France officials stated that they would not be providing drugs themselves.

In the 1960s, Knud Enemark Jensen, Denmark’s cyclist was riding in the Summer Olympic games under the influence of amphetamines. He collapsed during a race and was hospitalized, only to die not long after.

In 1964, the first anti doping law was passed by France. Two years later, the first official tests started at the Tour de France. Raymond Poulidor was the first to be tested. He was asked by two men whether he was a rider or not, then taken to a separate room and told to urinate in two bottles. The day after, riders started protesting.

The very end of the century saw famous cyclist Lance Armstrong tested positive for corticoids. It was later found out that he was indeed on performance enhancers and his entire career from 1998 to 2012 was discredited.

Dan Bilzerian – Instagram Star – Wins 1.2 Million Dollars on a Cycling Bet 10 Nov 2018, 1:10 pm

Dan Bilzerian is a very popular Instagram persona. His world is full of women, a weapons collection and a lot more. His interesting lifestyle got him over 23.8 million followers on Instagram. What makes this 37 year old man popular?

His photos are what got him started. He posted a variety of photos showing a very rich and over the top lifestyle where every photo had him as the manliest of men, fitting right into the old stereotype of lots of women, weapons and an adventurous lifestyle. His audience grew pretty quickly. He is known to do very interesting and questionable things such as place silly bets and even race for money. But all of this money couldn’t have come out of nothing, right? What made this man popular, what got him started?

Origin Story – Where Dan got His Capital

The easy answer is, his father. The long answer is that his father, Paul Bilzerian, is a corporate takeover specialist, who raised a lot of money during the 80s. Being able to finance his son, Dan, is one of the things he had done over the ages.

Dan took that money and made it his own by specializing in poker. Poker helped him gain a lot more money. He is a professional poker player, but outside his poker career, he wasn’t nearly as famous as he is today. A simple video changed that. It was a video of him standing close to a poker table, a woman stroking his beard.

After that, his following became huge, as people tended to like his rather lavish photos and lifestyle. He is a rather muscular man who loves the adventurous lifestyle and placing bets, a lot of bets, such as his famous cycling bet. If you happen to wish to try betting yourself after reading this article, please make sure you do it safely, and not like the protagonist of this article – Hard Rock sportsbook promo code 2019 might help you with that a bit.

1.2$ Million Cycling Bet – From Los Angeles to Las Vegas

High on some drugs, Bilzerian received a call from Bill Perkins, a fellow poker player, asking whether he was interested in taking a 600000 dollar bet on a ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. It’s a 300 mile ride and for someone who had not sit on a bike for 17 years, a lot to swallow. He had tried pedaling on a indoor bike the day before and was quite sore. They agreed on a 5 and half week time for training before he would have to set out on his journey, one that he would have to complete in less than 48 hours.

He started working out, yet things weren’t looking so great, not until Lance Armstrong, the retired and dishonored 7 consecutive time Tour de France winner came forth to help. He trained with Dan and gave him a lot of tips on how to complete his ride. He also stood to lose his plane to Rick Salomon if he were to die during his ride to Las Vegas.

He managed to complete the ride in time, even though he was drafting (riding behind a vehicle) behind a van for some time of the ride. The van was later removed, during the ride, as it was deemed cheating. Bill Perkins was following close behind with an RV, and later stated that Dan deserved to win the bet.

While an arduous victory, it was still a victory after all, one in which he invested over 150000 dollars, some of it to Lance Armstrong’s charity, the rest for the trainers and equipment necessary to survive the trip.

Cycling bets are interesting, especially if you’re the one to make the bet. Whether this bet is for anybody, that’s a different story. 300 miles is a lot of time to spend on a saddle which keeps hurting you, but 1.2 million is even more.

Things you Need to Take up Cycling – A Simple Guide for Beginners 13 Oct 2018, 12:02 pm

People do different things in order to have fun and relax, for example, some like to play instruments and others bet online on sports. I’ve recently learned that online betting offers different promotions that sound great to me, for example, that there is smarkets free bet when you register, so I have been enjoying some online betting myself. Other people prefer to stay active and enjoy cycling.

If you want to cycle around and have fun, you should know some things before you buy a bicycle and take off. There are more things you need than just a bicycle if you want to get out in traffic, especially. Cycling is a great sport and will help you develop both muscles and endurance, while at the same time enabling you to move around pretty quickly.

Here are some things to have in mind before you take up cycling.

Type of Bicycle – Do not get the Wrong One

Cycling has many subtypes like mountain biking, road bikes, commuter bikes, BMX/Urban bikes. Getting the wrong one could be a costly mistake, both financially and health-wise. You should know where you plan on cycling before you buy your machine of choice.

If you’re mainly planning on going through a city, then a commuter or a city bike is the best choice. If you plan on doing longer routes and going fast, a road bike is a good choice. A mountain bike is essential if you plan on heading off road. Getting an electric bike to help you with steep climbs is a great idea if you’re up in a hilly area.

The Necessary Accessories

If you want to cycle around town or in traffic, or even off road, you should know that without some accessories, you are not really safe. You should have a helmet, most countries have a law requiring you to have one. It is recommended, even if not required by law, as falling off a bicycle is very easy, believe it or not.

Getting proper lights and reflective surfaces is required, mostly because you need to signal the other drivers, rather than to use it as a lamp. Riding at night and off road is a different beast which requires serious weapons, in other terms, a very, very bright flashlight.

A detachable bike pump is necessary as you can blow an inner tube as quickly as you can say, pavement. Likewise, you should have a spare strapped to your bike, or even two. A pump is useless without a spare unless you lose some pressure over time and have forgotten to pump your tires before heading out.

Cycling Tips – General Tips

Know the road signs and traffic rules. If you ride in traffic, you are subject to all or bicycle-specific traffic laws. Obeying them means you stay safe and your wallet fuller.

Keep your eyes on the road. Do not look down when cycling, look ahead. You might miss a storm drain which might catch your entire wheel if you’re on a road bike. You might even ride over a pothole and get a flat tire. Always look ahead and be attentive.

Music is great but not your friend while you’re cycling. Nowadays it is easy to have music on with Bluetooth headphones but when on a bicycle, you should have your eyes and ears on the road. You might hear something faster than you would see it, thus have the time to react.

Getting the right saddle for your body and type of riding is essential and is up at the top with your bicycle choice. Furthermore, you should never ride in the same position for a longer period of time. Standing up every kilometer or so is recommended.

Use your gears often, very often, they are there for a reason. A higher cadence, around 70 to 90 is better than a lower one in a very high and taxing gear. Find your sweet spot.

Follow these cycling tips and you will be good to go!