Team Ineos must take Chris Froome to this month’s Tour de France, insists Sir Bradley Wiggins

Sir Bradley Wiggins says Team Ineos must take Chris Froome to this month’s Tour de France – even though he is leaving them at the end of the season.

Froome, 35, is battling to secure a place in Ineos’ eight-man team for the race which begins on August 29, with Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal – the respective 2018 and 2019 winners – also on their roster.

But Wiggins believes his old boss Sir Dave Brailsford should select four-time Tour champion Froome – who missed last year’s race because of injury – for the final time before he joins Israel Start-Up Nation at the end of the year.

Wiggins (middle) says Froome should be picked despite him leaving at the end of the season

‘I would guess that Chris Froome won’t be at the level this year to win the Tour de France, I think it might take another year of racing,’ admitted Wiggins, who was the first Briton to win the race in 2012.

‘But I do think he has a place in that team. I would take him purely based on what he has done for that team. He has been the face of that team for a number of years now. I also think Chris will be the first in there to say he’s going to help his team-mates.’ 

Froome is currently racing in the four-day Route D’Occitanie in France in what some see as a play-off with Bernal to be selected as one of two lead riders.

Sir Dave Brailsford will select an eight-man team for the race which will begin on August 29

He will swap teams at the end of the year when his Ineos deals expires – and Wiggins believes the switch will boost his chances of winning a record-equalling fifth Tour.

‘I knew he was thinking of changing teams and I think he needed to,’ Wiggins said on his Eurosport podcast. 

‘He’s got a fifth Tour de France in him and he was obviously thinking whether he would ever get that opportunity again at Ineos.

‘By changing teams, he has probably given himself the best chance to win that fifth Tour. He would have put a lot of thought into it and it’s a brave move because there is no certainty in it at all – but I see it as such a positive thing.’

Froome may race for Ineos for the last time before he joins Israel Start-Up Nation later this year

Whether or not Froome is on the Tour start line this summer, Wiggins has backed Welshman Thomas to repeat his 2018 success.

‘Bernal was allowed to win the Tour de France last year, with Geraint as defending champion, so the same should apply the other way around this year,’ Wiggins added.

‘So Geraint is open to win the race this year and I actually think Geraint will win the Tour de France this year – no question about it.’

You can find Sir Bradley Wiggins’ podcast with Eurosport here