Best UK Cycling Betting Sites

How We Review Cycling Betting Sites

It’s not always easy to spot the best cycling betting sites, so we create our expert reviews to help you find the perfect fit. But how do we find the best places to bet on cycling online? You’ll find a snapshot of our criteria below. 

• Licensing – Before we review a new cycling betting site, we swing by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) website, where we confirm that the site is fully licensed to operate in the UK. There’s no place for unregulated sites at Compare.bet, so you can sign up to enjoy betting on cycling at any of our recommended online bookies and feel completely confident that you’re in safe hands.
• Betting Markets – Options for cycling betting go far beyond the race winner. In fact, cycling offers lots of different betting markets, including various types of rider and team betting, along with matchup betting and race stats betting. Cycling events can also produce unique betting markets, such as the winner of the Tour De France’s maillot jaune. We ensure bookies offer all the bets you’d expect, and specials, too. 
• Site Design – The design of a cycling betting website may seem inconsequential, but you’d certainly notice the difference between a thoughtfully designed site and one that’s been thrown together. Our favourite bookies with cycling betting options boast fresh looking websites with fast-loading features and intuitive menu options to help you to quickly navigate to cycling betting markets or other pages of interest. 
• Features – There’s lots of competition among online bookies, so it’s little wonder that sites often go all out to impress with a range of great perks for customers. We check out where cycling betting sites shine, noting in our reviews any features that add to the bookie’s appeal. With this in mind, we’re looking for things like live streaming and bet builders, along with early cash out and request a bet options.
• Bonuses – Whether it’s a free bet or a matched deposit, most cycling betting sites offer a welcome bonus to customers opening a new online betting account. We dig deep into the T&Cs of these offers to ensure bettors are getting a fair deal after accounting for restrictions such as wagering and winnings caps. We also check out promos for loyal customers, making sure there are plenty of them about. 
• Payment Options – Our sportsbook reviews include a section devoted to the banking options you’ll find on a site. We expect the best bookmakers to offer a range of payment options, including debit cards and e-wallets, as well as newer deposit methods such as AstroPay and Pay by Phone. Payout options and withdrawal times also come under scrutiny to ensure you can get your hands on your winnings fast. 
• Customer Support – A bookie that offers great customer support through a variety of channels, such as live chat, on-site contact forms and telephone and email support, tends to tick a lot of other boxes when it comes to customer satisfaction. We look at the different ways to get in touch as part of our review process, so you’ll always have an idea of how sites perform in this area before you sign up. 
• Mobile – Betting on cycling is even more fun when you can place bets on the go using your mobile device. All the featured cycling betting sites on this page offer a mobile version of their website, with some of our top picks also offering native mobile betting apps. These apps offer plenty of perks, including push notifications to keep you up to speed with bonuses, making them the preferred option for many punters. 
• Our Experience – Experience counts for a lot, so when we review a new cycling betting site, we don’t do it from the outside looking in. We become customers, place bets and make use of a site’s various features. Only this way can we get a true feel for the online cycling betting experience offered by a bookmaker. We report our experiences back to you, so you decide if you’d like to take a bookie for a spin.

Cycling Betting Markets

Betting on cycling is a bit different from betting on sports like football. In cycling, the first rider past the line wins, but that doesn’t mean other cyclists necessarily lose. Let’s take a closer look at the race winner market, as well as some of the other ways you can bet on the action. 

Race Winner

Race winner betting is where punters predict the outright winner of a race. However, since cycling events can feature over 100 riders, this is trickier than it sounds. To make a win more likely, many bookies offer Top 3 and Top 10 markets, which is a bit like each way betting in horse racing, but without the reduced odds if cyclists don’t win. Bettors can also take advantage of head-to-head betting to slim down the choice of who will win to just two riders. 

Stage Winner

Many cycling races are split into multiple stages, such as sprints, mountain stages and time trials. The Tour of Britain, for example, packs in eight stages, visiting England and Wales on the way to crowning the champion, while the Tour de France features 21 different stages. Multi-stage races offer lots of options for betting, as not only can punters get cycling odds on the outright winner of the race, but also on the stage winners along the way. 

King of the Mountains

The King of the Mountains award is given to the riders accumulating the most points in the climbing parts of multi-stage cycle races like the Tour of California. It can also be given to cyclists reaching the top spot after several climbs in a single-day race. In the Tour de France, KoM winners wear an iconic white jersey with red polka dots, with predictions on who will claim the polka dot jersey being one of the race’s most popular betting markets.

Major Cycling Betting Events

There’s no shortage of exciting events in the cycling calendar, and no shortage of ways to enjoy a flutter on them, either. Let’s run through some of the major cycling betting events you’ll want to put in your diary. 

Tour de France

Founded in 1903, the Tour de France is one of cycling’s three Grand Tours and arguably the most famous bike race on the planet. The July race sees around 22 teams of up to nine riders each undertake 21 stages over 23 days and more than 2,000 miles. The different stages feature sprints, breakaways, time trials and mountain stages, and offer some of the most exciting Tour de France betting options. Cyclists compete to wear one of the famous jerseys, which can change hands multiple times before the race ends. The red and white polka dot jersey goes to cyclists who excel in the mountain stages, while the white jersey is awarded to the best young riders. The race leader’s yellow jersey is the most coveted, with Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard claiming it as his own in the Tour de France 2022. 

Giro d’Italia

Founded in 1909 and part of the UCI World Tour, the Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) is the second-longest running of the Grand Tours, and the first to take place each year. Like its sister events, the Giro d’Italia is a multi-stage race. It features 20 or 21 stages over three weeks, comprising mass-start stages, as well as individual and team time trials. Featuring ascents such as Stelvio Pass and Colle delle Finestre, the race is also known for its difficult climbs. As with the Tour de France, riders compete to pull on a variety of colourful jerseys, with the Giro d’Italia’s pink General Classification winner’s jersey — awarded for being the fastest overall rider in the race — the most sought after. Cyclist Jai Hindley, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora-Hansgrohe out of Australia, is the current Giro d’Italia champion.

Vuelta a España

Spain’s Vuelta a España rounds off the trio of Grand Tours, and, having been founded in 1935, is the baby of the three. The Vuelta used to take place in spring, but riders now set off in mid-August and race through into September. The sweltering heat typical of the region at that time of year makes the race’s brutal climbs, like the Altu de l’Algliru, a little tougher, and earning the right to pull on the blue-on-white polka dot King of the Mountains jersey a little more memorable. The overall leader’s jersey for the Vuelta a España is red, though it has been a few different colours over the years. The 2022 edition of the event saw the 22-year-old Remco Evenepoel from Belgium reign supreme. Evenepoel not only claimed the red jersey, but also pocketed €150,000 as the Vuelta a España General Classification winner. 

Milan-San Remo

Italy’s Milan-San Remo or La Primavera is one of cycling’s Monuments — five classic races considered the oldest and most distinguished of road cycling’s one-day events. Each Monument has an esteemed history and is usually long and technically challenging. Founded in 1907, and coming in just short of 300 km long, the Milan-San Remo is not only the longest of the Monuments, but also the world’s longest professional bike race. The event takes place across the Italian coast each March, and, while widely regarded as the sprinter’s classic, incorporates tricky climbs such as the Passo del Turchino, the Cipressa and the Poggio. In 2023, the 114th edition of Milan San-Remo saw Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel claim victory — 62 years after his grandfather Raymond Poulidor did the same. 

Strade Bianchi

Though not an official cycling Monument, the one-day Strade Bianchi has quickly become a favourite since its introduction to the cycling calendar in 1997 — so much so that the event was elevated to the WorldTour in 2017. Covering over 180km and taking place in March in the Italian region of Tuscany, the race is known for its punchy climbs and sections of thick and dusty gravel roads that make descents that little bit more exhilarating to watch. Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara has racked up the most wins at the Strade Bianchi, with victories in 2008, 2012 and 2016. However, it was UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar who saw success in the Strade Bianchi in 2023. The Slovenian cyclist had previously made headlines when he won the 2020 Tour de France as the youngest player to do so since 1904.

Types of Cycling to Bet On

Whether you enjoy betting on the race winner or prefer placing head-to-head wagers, there are loads of cycling events to choose from. Some of the most popular events fall into the road, track and mountain bike categories of racing, and you can find out more about each of these different types of cycling below.

Road Cycling

Road cycling refers to races that play out on paved roads. Along with all three of cycling’s Grand Tours and all five of the Monument Classics, professional cycling road races include elite one-day races such as Germany’s Vattenfall Cyclassics and the Netherlands’ Amstel Gold Race. Major UCI Continental Circuits like Belgium’s Scheldeprijs and the UK’s RideLondon-Surrey Classic also fall into the sport’s road racing category. 

Track Cycling

Track cycling races usually take place on purpose-built steeply banked tracks or on a special racing track called a velodrome. The UK’s velodromes include Preston Park cycle track, which having opened in 1877, is not only the UK’s oldest velodrome, but also the world’s oldest still in operation. Track cycling’s major competitive events include the Olympic Games, the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the UCI Track Cycling World Cup.

Mountain Biking

Mountain bike races are races held on off-road terrain such as dirt tracks. Often shortened to MTB or ATB racing, mountain bike racing incorporates a variety of disciplines, including downhill, cross-country, marathon and enduro. Mountain bike racing’s main events include the UCI Mountain Bike World Championship and World Cup, as well as the Summer Olympics’ cross-country event.

Compare Sites and Start Betting on Cycling 

Ready to start betting on cycling? Browse our list of the best bookies with cycling betting markets, choose your favourite, then click through to sign up for a new account today.