Pinot favourite for Tour de France heading into final week

Thibaut Pinot is the new favourite to win the Tour de France heading into the final week of the race. Following a strong display of riding in the Pyrenees, the Frenchman sits in fourth place at 1 minute 50 seconds behind Julian Alaphilippe. He is rated a 19/10 (bet £10 to make £19 profit) to win the Tour.

Second favourite is now Geraint Thomas at 7/2 and the Team Ineos rider has slipped from being odds on after the first week. He conceded time to Pinot on the Tourmalet but is expected to get stronger as the race hits the Alps this week. The Welshman sits in second place on the General Classification, 1 minute and 35 seconds down on the leader.

Alaphilippe is third favourite at 4/1 and he has had an amazing period in the yellow jersey, producing a performance that very few thought he was capable of based on previous form. His unbelievable improvement in form, especially in the mountains, means only a brave person would write him off, even though in press conference he has said he expects to crack at some point when the climbing gets really tough.

In what is the most open Tour de France for many years, Egan Bernal is 11/2 fourth favourite and he may well be Team Ineos' best chance of victory, given his impressive climbing so far and the face that he will be allowed to ride his own race if Geraint Thomas shows any signs of weakness. He is just 2 minutes and 2 seconds off the lead.

In third place sits Steven Kruijswijk and the Dutch Jumbo-Visma rider is only one minute 47 seconds off the lead. Having been a 100/1 shot at the start of the Tour, he is now top priced at 9/1 to win.

The last serious contender is Emanuel Buchmann at 16/1 and the German rider, who sits in sixth place 2 minutes 36 seconds off the yellow jersey, looked strong in the climbs and was probably the least exhausted of the main riders following the Tourmalet. Again, his vast improvement in form has been a big surprise and it is not hard to see him make a winning move in the Alps, especially given that he is riding with a lot less pressure than the big names because less is expected of him.

The only other rider the bookies have under 100/1 is Mikel Landa at 50/1 but he is nearly five minutes off the pace and Movistar have ridden a pretty shocking race with a spectacular lack of tactical acumen. It is hard to see Landa putting enough time into all his rivals, so he doesn't look good value at a big price.