Armstrong favorite, but odds lengthen

readaBet.com | TOUR DE FRANCE: LANCE ODDS AGAINST FOR TOUR JOY

Readabet.com notes that Lance Armstrong gets no love from the European bookies this year. He's been a heavy favorite the last two years, at 1-to-4 last year and 1-to-2 in 2002.

This year, Armstrong is 11-to-10 at one bookie, and 1.26-to-1 at another. His best odds are 90-to-100 at SportingOdds.

Perhaps the best-known European bookmaker, William Hill, has Armstrong at 1-to-1, Ullrich 2-to-1, Hamilton and Mayo 6-to-1, Heras 20-1, Ivan Basso 25-to-1, Haimar Zubeldia 28-to-1, Francisco Mancebo and Carlos Sastre at 40-to-1, and USPS rider Jose Azevedo and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano at 50-to-1.

There's a wide disparity among certain riders: Hamilton, for instance, is anywhere between 4-to-1 and 8.4-to-1, and Mancebo anywhere from 40-to-1 to 309-to-1.