Rory Jiwani has a big-priced fancy as BMX racing enters the fray at the Olympics on Thursday – check out his full preview and analysis.
Tokyo 2020 betting tips: BMX racing
1pt Zoe Claessens to win the women’s BMX at 29/1 (MansionBet)
1pt Zoe Claessens to finish in the top 3 in the women's BMX at 9/2 (Unibet)
Mariana Pajon is going for a hat-trick of Olympic BMX titles in Tokyo and warmed up with a double win on home soil in Bogota in the World Cup in late May. But that field was missing the best riders from Europe, including the powerful Dutch.
Pajon is vying for favouritism with Laura Smulders, a winner on the opening World Cup weekend in Verona, and USA’s Alise Willoughby (nee Post) who took silver behind the Colombian hero in Rio. But in a sport as fast and furious as BMX, we’re going to try and find a runner at a big price.
Most of these riders have encountered the track at Ariake before in the Olympic test event in October 2019, with Australia’s Saya Sakakibara taking victory from Willoughby with Pajon having a DNF in the final and Smulders not even making it. Sakaibara hasn’t ridden in this year’s World Cup due to Covid restrictions, but one rider who has is Switzerland’s ZOE CLAESSENS.
The youngster looked very quick in Verona, colliding with Smulders in the final before taking second behind the Dutchwoman on the second day. She also won the junior class of the Ariake test event.
By my reckoning, she should be trading at single figures but MansionBet are a huge 29/1 with Unibet going 20/1. The latter firm are also offering 9/2 for a top-3 finish which looks well worth a go.
Posted at 1745 BST on 28/07/21
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
