Froome to continue two-wheeled theme and scoop SPOTY third

Having championed the case for Mo Farah to collect the silver medal in the Sports Personality of the Year, we’re backing Chris Froome to pedal out of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ shadow and win third place at the 2013 edition.

Despite his intended no-show for this year’s SPOTY, it’s still fairly unthinkable that Andy Murray – the first British winner of Wimbledon in 76 years – won’t fulfil his 1/14 favourite-tag and scoop the BBC’s prestigious award.

There is still a podium to be filled for the event, though, and at far juicier odds of 10/3 we are expecting British cycling mania to spill over and Chris Froome, only the second ever British winner of the Tour de France, to claim the third step.

The UK’s obsession with cycling really came to the fore when Sir Chris Hoy’s Olympic exploits in the Beijing velodrome back in 2008 spurred the Scot on to scooping that year’s SPOTY prize.

Pedal power then came back into the public domain just three years later when road race world champion and Tour de France green jersey winner Mark Cavendish claimed the 2011 prize.

Cycling was clearly here to stay in the public’s imagination and with the Olympics happening in London last year – the increasingly popular sport possibly reached its zenith when Sir Bradley Wiggins followed an unprecedented Tour win, with Olympic time trial gold.

So, given the sport clearly has a fanatical following and this is a publicly voted for award, there is a very strong case to suggest that they will want to honour Froome’s own magnificent achievement.

After claiming 4000 career wins in National Hunt racing it’s no surprise to see A P McCoy rated as the favourite for third-place at 11/4, though since he has both won it in 2010 and come third in 2002 – his SPOTY ship may have sailed.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim three £10 free bets when you bet £10.