Pre-race Favourites
After the retirement of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong and with Ivan Basso and Floyd Landis not entering the Tour, the bookmakers' favourite to win the 2007 Tour de France was Alexander Vinokourov, who was unable to start in 2006 due to lack of team members, but did win the 2006 Vuelta a España. The main challengers were expected to be the 2006 Tour de France second place finisher Andreas Klöden; and Alejandro Valverde, who dropped out of the 2006 Tour de France after a crash, but came second to Vinokourov in the 2006 Vuelta a España.
Shown in the table below are the riders that, according to the bookmakers on 7 July 2007, the start day of the 2007 Tour de France, had the best chances of winning the 2007 Tour.
| Rider | Team | Notes | Decimal Odds | Final Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Vinokourov | Astana | Unable to start in 2006, 5th in 2005 | 2.87 | WD |
| Andreas Klöden | Astana | 2nd in 2006, winner of 2007 Tirreno–Adriatico | 5.00 | WD |
| Alejandro Valverde | Caisse d'Epargne | Crashed and withdrew in 2006 and 2005, winner of 2006 UCI ProTour | 5.00 | 5th (+ 11' 37") |
| Cadel Evans | Predictor-Lotto | 4th in 2006 | 13.00 | 2nd (+ 23") |
| Carlos Sastre | Team CSC | 3rd in 2006 | 13.00 | 3rd (+ 7' 08") |
| Levi Leipheimer | Discovery Channel | 12th in 2006 | 17.00 | DSQ |
| Andrey Kashechkin | Astana | Unable to start in 2006, 2nd in Young Riders' Classification in 2005 | 17.00 | WD |
| Denis Menchov | Rabobank | 5th in 2006 | 19.00 | WD |
| Fränk Schleck | Team CSC | Winner of Stage 15 to Alpe D'Huez in 2006, 10th overall | 23.00 | 16th (+ 31' 48") |
| Christophe Moreau | AG2R Prévoyance | 7th in 2006, winner of 2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré | 23.00 | 37th (+ 1h 33' 06") |
| Vladimir Karpets | Caisse d'Epargne | Best young rider in 2004, winner of 2007 Volta a Catalunya and 2007 Tour de Suisse | 26.00 | 13th (+ 24' 15") |
| Alberto Contador | Discovery Channel | Winner of 2007 Paris–Nice | 29.00 | 1st (91h 00' 26") |
| Michael Rogers | T-Mobile Team | 9th in 2006; three-time World Time-Trial Champion | 41.00 | WD |
| Óscar Pereiro | Caisse d'Epargne | 1st in 2006 | 51.00 | 9th (+ 14' 25") |
| withdrawn |
| Finished in Top 5 |
Janez Brajkovič, Damiano Cunego, Tom Danielson and Koldo Gil were all offered at odds within the range of this table, but withdrew before the race field was finalised.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Tour De France