'Women's Tour de France needs to happen now' - Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins believes there must be a women's Tour de France now. His comments on his Eurosport podcast come after Lizzie Deignan powered past Marianne Vos to win the seventh edition of La Course, a 96-km two-lap circuit that started and finished in Nice, following a thrilling sprint finish on Saturday.

La Course by Le Tour currently plays the role of a curtain-raiser for the Tour de France. The women are still without a multi-stage Tour de France of their own, although support is reportedly growing to start one possibly as early as 2022.

But Wiggins, who was speaking with guest Jo Rowsell and presenter Graham Willgoss, believes that is simply not good enough and says he has been calling for a women's Tour de France for many years. Speaking on the first special Tour episode of his Eurosport podcast, the 2012 champion urges the cycling authorities to act now to bring the change about.

"I remember asking the question back in 2012 when I won the Tour, ‘Shall we have a women’s Tour de France?’" Wiggins recalls on the podcast.

"I don’t know, it just always seems to get knocked down the road, doesn’t it? I remember talking about this, as I say, in 2012, trying to do something to help. I put some money into Rochelle Gilmour’s team.

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"At some point, someone has got to do something. An organisation like the ASO, we have to wait to 2022? Why not just do it this year or next year? Why do we have to wait another two years?

"I always just feel like they’re fobbing this off and pushing it down the road a bit. How long have we been saying this? Eight years, at least, because I got asked this question in 2012.

"The impact Covid-19 will have on the women’s tour is far more than the men’s. It probably needs something like a Tour de France now, because sponsors will come in and say, 'we will have a bit of that'.