Bookmakers compiling the odds for the Tour de France 2022 did not have had to carry out too much investigating in assessing the man to beat when the action started.
Although Tadej Pogacar missed out on glory, he began at the top of the rankings and was chasing a third consecutive title across the 3,328 kilometres (2,068 miles) of the race, which started in Copenhagen on July 1 and finishes at Paris' Champs-Elysees on July 24.
Pogacar's main rivals before the start of the action included La Drome Classic champion Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic, who held the record for the most consecutive weeks at number one.
After Vingegaard prevailed, here's a look at the initia odds for the Tour de France 2022, along with the full list of teams and riders taking part this time.
Tour de France 2022 odds and favourites
Slovenian Pogacar was the odds-on favourite to win his fourth Tour de France and draw level with Chris Froome on the all-time list.
Countryman Roglic and Dane Vingegaard were considered the next most likely to secure victory, according to the odds-makers.
*pre-race odds
| SkyBet (UK) | DraftKings (USA) | Sports Interaction (Canada) | |
| Winner | Pogacar 8/11 Vingegaard, Roglic 4/1 Geraint Thomas 12/1 Daniel Martinez 18/1 | Pogacar -150 Vingegaard, Roglic +400 Thomas +1600 Alexander Vlasov, Martinez +1800 | Pogacar -176 Roglic +358 Vingegaard +384 Martinez, Vlasov +1800 |
| Top three finish | Pogacar 2/7 Vingegaard 8/11 Roglic 5/6 Thomas 7/2 Martinez 4/1 | Pogacar -400 Vingegaard, Roglic -125 Thomas, Martinez, Vlasov +350 | Pogacar -400 Roglic -133 Vingegaard -125 Thomas +275 O'Connor, Enric Mas +600 |
| Top 10 finish | Pogacar 2/9 Vingegaard, Roglic 1/4 Thomas 4/6 Martinez 4/9 | Pogacar, Roglic -500 Vingegaard -450 Vlasov -330 Ben O'Connor -295 |
Tour de France 2022 teams, riders
| Team | Country | Riders |
|---|---|---|
| AG2R Citroen Team | France | Ben O'Connor, Geoffrey Bouchard, Mikael Cherel, Benoit Cosnefroy, Stan Dewulf, Oliver Naesen, Aurelien Paret-Peintre, Bob Jungels |
| Astana Qazaqstan Team | France | Alexey Lutsenko, Andrey Zeits, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Fabio Felline, Simone Velasco, Samuele Battistella, Gianni Moscon, Joe Dombrowski |
| Bahrain Victorious | Bahrain | Damiano Caruso, Kamil Gradek, Jack Haig, Matej Mohoric, Luis Leon Sanchez, Dylan Teuns, Jan Tratnik, Fred Wright |
| Bora-Hansgrohe | Germany | Aleksandr Vlasov, Lennard Kamna, Patrick Konrad, Marco Haller, Felix Grossschartner, Nils Politt, Max Schachmann, Danny van Poppel |
| Cofidis | France | Guillaume Martin, Pierre-Luc Perichon, Ion Izagirre, Simon Geschke, Victor Lafay, Anthony Perez, Benjamin Thomas, Max Walscheid |
| Ef Educations-Easypost | United States | Rigoberto Uran, Ruben Guerreiro, Alberto Bettiol, Stefan Bissegger, Owain Doull, Magnus Cort, Neilson Powless, Jonas Rutsch |
| Groupama-FDJ | France | Antoine Duchesne, Valentin Madouas, Olivier Le Gac, Michael Storer, Kevin Geniets, David Gaudu, Thibaut Pinot, Stefan Kung |
| Ineos Grenadiers | Great Britain | Jonathan Castroviejo, Filippo Ganna, Daniel Felipe Martinez, Thomas Pidcock, Luke Rowe, Geraint Thomas, Dylan van Baarle, Adam Yates |
| Intermarche- Wanty-Gobert Materiaux | Belgium | Alexander Kristoff, Kobe Goossens, Sven Erik Bystrom, Louis Meintjes, Andrea Pasqualon, Adrien Petit, Taco van der Hoorn, Georg Zimmermann |
| Israel-Premier Tech | Israel | Chris Froome, Hugo Houle, Michael Woods, Simon Clarke, Omer Goldstein, Jakob Fuglsang, Guy Niv, Krists Neilands |
| Jumbo-Visma | Netherlands | Primoz Roglic, Tiesj Benoot, Steven Kruijswijk, Sepp Kuss, Christophe Laporte, Wout van Aert, Nathan van Hooydonck, Jonas Vingegaard |
| Lotto Soudal | Belgium | Caleb Ewan, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Frederik Frison, Florian Vermeersch, Brent Van Moer, Philippe Gilbert, Andreas Kron, Tim Wellens |
| Movistar Team | Spain | Enric Mas, Carlos Verona, Imanol Erviti, Albert Torres, Gorka Izagirre, Matteo Jorgenson, Gregor Muhlberger, Nelson Oliveira |
| Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | Belgium | Yves Lampaert, Kasper Asgreen, Mattia Cattaneo, Florian Senechal, Andrea Bagioli, Mikkel Honore, Fabio Jakobsen, Michael Morkov |
| Team BikeExchange-Jayco | Australia | Amund Grondahl Jansen, Nick Schultz, Jack Bauer, Chris Juul-Jensen, Luke Durbridge, Luka Mezgec, Michael Matthews, Dylan Groenewegen |
| Team DSM | Germany | John Degenkolb, Romain Bardet, Alberto Dainese, Nils Eekhoff, Chris Hamilton, Andreas Leknessund, Martijn Tusveld, Kevin Vermaerke |
| Trek-Segafredo | United States | Jasper Stuyven, Bauke Mollema, Mads Pedersen, Giulio Ciccone, Tony Gallopin, Alex Kirsch, Toms Skujins, Quinn Simmons |
| UAE Team Emirates | United Arab Emirates | Tadej Pogacar, George Bennett, Mikkel Bjerg, Marc Hirschi, Vegard Stake Laengen, Rafal Majka, Brandon McNulty, Marc Soler |
| Alpecin-Fenix | Belgium | Mathieu van der Poel, Silvan Dillier, Michael Gogl, Alexander Kreiger, Jasper Philipsen, Edward Planckaert, Kristian Sbaragli, Guillaume van Keirsbulck |
| Team Arkea-Samsic | France | Nairo Quintana, Warren Barguil, Maxime Bouet, Amaury Capiot, Hugo Hofstetter, Matis Louvel, Connor Swift, Lukasz Owsian |
| B&B Hotels-KTM | France | Franck Bonnamour, Cyril Barthe, Alexis Gougeard, Jeremy Lecroq, Cyril Lemoine, Luca Mozzato, Pierre Rolland, Sebastian Schonberger |
| Totalenergies | France | Peter Sagan, Maciej Bodnar, Mathieu Burgaudeau, Pierre Latour, Daniel Oss, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Anthony Turgis, Alexis Vuillermoz |
Recent Tour de France winners
A third straight win in the Tour de France would have madae Pogacar the sixth cyclist to win the event in at least three consecutive years.
The others are Louison Bobet (1953-55), Jacques Anquetil (1961-64), Eddy Merckx (1969-72), Miguel Indurain (1991-95) and Chris Froome (2015-17).
Lance Armstrong won seven straight races from 1999 to 2005 but his victories have been vacated due to doping offences.