Bradley Wiggins: A move would help Remco Evenepoel win Tour de France

Bradley Wiggins has suggested Remco Evenpoel must be patient if he is to carry the yellow jersey to Paris when the Tour de France concludes on July 27, but he believes the Belgian might be need to change teams to achieve the dream in the future. 

In an interview with Sporza, the 2012 yellow jersey winner said he felt the Soudal-Quickstep squad lacked the depth to support the Belgian superstar to GC victory. 

"Maybe he should look elsewhere. Look at the composition of teams like Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE [Team Emirates-XRG]. They have riders as domestiques who can win major tours themselves. Soudal-QuickStep is not at that level," Wiggins said.

"A move to a team like Ineos or Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe could take him to that next level, because individually he has the qualities to win the Tour."

Evenepoel began the season late after losing much of his winter training following a crash where he was doored by a motorist. He returned with a bang, winning Brabantse Pijl, his first race back, in mid-April, though he struggled a week later at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a race he has won twice before. 

He went to finish fifth at the Tour de Romandie and fourth in the Critérium du Daupniné, winning the time trial in both events and wearing the leader's yellow jersey at the latter race. Last weekend he honed his final preparations with a dominant win in the Belgian time trial championships and second place in the road race.

Wiggins, who relied ono his own skills against the clock when winning the 2012 Tour de France, believes patience is key for Evenepoel if he's to challenge at this year's Tour. 

"Remco is a special rider. Of course it will be difficult, but he has the experience of last year. He knows that he can keep it up for three weeks. But he has to wait and see. Remco must profit from a possible cat-and-mouse game between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. He must hang on as long as possible uphill and then use the time trials to make up time," Wiggins said.

"It is important that he remains patient, because the race will be decided in the third week. Just like last year, he must fly a bit under the radar. He must not forget that he also has weapons, such as his time trial. The other two are jealous of that too. When he has his day, he can put his foot next to them. He is also returning from an injury, so I think that he will reach a level in the Tour that we have not seen this year."

In recent years the team have worked to build some support for Evenepoel in the mountains, but bad luck has affected the Soudal-QuickStep selection, with key riders unavailable. Spanish climber Mikel Landa is yet to return to action after crashing out of the Giro d'Italia and Louis Vervaeke suffered a similar fate at the Dauphiné and remains unavailable.