Paris-Roubaix Odds Signpost A Decisive Win For Sagan

If you're taking part in the Paris-Roubaix odds are you're glutton for punishment anyway, but with all the scandals that have beset your sport rumbling on and on as if now a permanent fixture, you have to be wondering if it's all really worth it. Certainly riding 257km along numerous cobbled sections isn't for the faint of heart, but with the scrutiny this is one Monument race that everyone hopes goes off without a hitch, trouble is no one thinks it will.

The French like to call it pavé but to the rest of us they're cobbles and are to the comfortable riding of a bicycle what a sledgehammer is to brain surgery. This doesn't stop the route of the Paris-Roubaix containing vast sections of them, tricky in the dry, treacherous in the wet, and a sheer penance if you're actually trying to race on them. For the riders in the Paris-Roubaix odds are, however, that the weather conditions will be the least of their worries as the doping scandals continue to hover over cycling.

Team Sky, Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins have sailed so close to the wind it's surprising they were able to breathe. With the UK Parliament incredulous of their claims (which seem to hinge on coincidence being responsible for performance enhancing medication just happening to be what their riders were prescribed for their minor ailments) they've looked ridiculous and if you're in the Paris-Roubaix odds are there will be as many checks as the numbers who bet on sports in France this Sunday.

Cycling Is Still Under A Cloud Of Its Own Making

The media scent blood better than sharks in an abattoir, and cycling shoots itself in the foot so often it's only ever a matter of time before yet another rider is caught cheating, and even those merely accused always look so guilty there's a piranha pool of journalists just waiting to pounce on even the slightest rumour. This makes it tricky for the sport to move on and attempt to heal itself enough to be able to retain sponsors, although watching the Paris-Roubaix odds are you'll not notice the sport's malaise.

Peter Sagan

As a one day race of such massive prestige the cream of the crop will be going for the win, but all eyes will be on Peter Sagan who hit the front of the UCI rankings recently and is leading the Paris-Roubaix odds with very few others tipped to be even able to keep up with him. Naturally the conditions on the day will count, but if you're going to take advantage of French gambling laws to bet on the Paris-Roubaix the chances are he's the man to back, possibly on the nose, definitely each way at a minimum.

Tempting Paris-Roubaix Odds Available Online

Sure, there are other riders in the frame, some of them even getting pretty decent Paris-Roubaix odds, but do you really think Greg Van Avermaet is a good bet at 13/2? That's pretty tight. Especially when Sep Vanmarcke is getting 8/1 ahead of Phillippe Gilbert on 9/1. Even Niki Terpstra gets 7/1 and he's by no means a shoo-in to even place in this race. Indeed it says all that need be said about this year's race that veteran Alexander Kristoff is sharing the same 18/1 odds on winning as Arnaud Demare.

So then the Paris-Roubaix odds point to Peter Sagan extending his lead at the top of the UCI, of his lifting the cobble trophy having won “The Hell Of The North” (as the race is affectionately known) and the rest of the field trailing behind him in this classic of the Classics. Unfortunately at those odds it'll take quite the wager to turn a profit and if you're French gambling news coverage of the race will climax in a Frenchman winning just don't even think about backing the concept with your cash.