Tour de France 2019 - Wiggins: Geraint Thomas in 'prime position' to win Tour in best race for years

Updated 22/07/2019 at 09:24 GMT

Despite struggling behind Julian Alaphilippe for much of the 2019 Tour de France, Geraint Thomas is still perfectly poised to retain his crown, according to Bradley Wiggins in his latest Eurosport podcast.

Geraint Thomas of Great Britain and Team Ineos crosses the finish line in 7th place in front of Steven Kruijswijk of the Netherlands and Team Jumbo-Visma and Alejandro Valverde of Spain and Movistar Team during stage 15 of the 106th Tour de France 2019

Image credit: Getty Images

Speaking to Matt Stephens in the latest onsite edition of The Bradley Wiggins Show podcast, available now on all major podcast platforms, Wiggins said his former team-mate was now in a "prime position" to launch a victory push despite still being behind race leader Alaphilippe.

After surprisingly being dominated by the Frenchman at times, Thomas reduced the gap to the popular leader in a bizarre and dramatic Stage 15 on Sunday and, according to Wiggins, now has an ideal platform to capitalise after Monday's rest day.

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"It's amazing, really, I think that [Stage 15] has really lined him [Thomas] up now," Wiggins said on the podcast.

I think G is in prime position now to win this race if he carries on riding like that. And if Alaphilippe carries on riding like that, he's not going to win the Tour - there's just no way. He hasn't got a team!

"I can't believe that we are going to sit here and watch someone win the Tour de France - not only someone who rides the way he does, going so deep each day, but literally with no team. I just can't see it happening.

"Ineos, their big improvement was having Wout Poels there. We saw the calming effect it had on G when he was there, and he set the tempo, and I think G is used to that. That was a big plus today for Ineos.

"They will come up with a plan now that they've seen the G they wanted to see. Bernal is a gentleman and he will be under team instructions this week.

"I'm sure there will be a firmer, more fixed, plan for Geraint now. He is in prime position now to win this race having limited his losses to perfection. He has got the strongest team and should go on to win this race."