Who’s your favourite for the Tour and who do you think can make the podium and why?

Bernal is probably the favourite, as the previous winner, he’s probably warranted that position with his success this year although it might be a question mark seeing as he climbed off in the Dauphiné with a back problem. 

I think his closest challenger will be Primoz Roglic, who has been very dominant this season and would probably have looked set to win the Dauphiné but for a crash.

The fallback positions on those are probably Tom Dumoulin, a previous podium placer in the Tour de France and a Giro d’Italia winner. You’d have to say on his day Tom could be a contender for the Tour de France. Is it too soon for him after his crash last year? It remains to be seen. 

Thibault Pinot was a challenger for the Tour last year and the hopes of France were on his shoulders until he retired with a knee injury last year… and then of course Julian Alaphilippe as well who shocked the world of cycling last year by potentially looking like he could win the Tour three or four days out.  

We don’t want a nailed-on winner because that gets boring for a lot of people and that’s the beauty of the Tour and that’s the beauty of cycling, is that uncertainty brings with it an excitement for the viewers.

Anyone in particular, any team or rider you think may surprise viewers or the people who are watching?

I think Pinot, I think Pinot is not going to be a surprise but he’s one that’s outside of those two dominant squads in Jumbo and INEOS, who might not spring a surprise but could challenge those two squads perhaps without the strength and depth or the strength that those two squads possess.  

But outside of that I can’t really think of anyone else other than maybe one of the Yates brothers, you’d have to say the winner is going to come from one of those two squads in Jumbo and INEOS but cycling being cycling, it’s very unpredictable and who knows? 

Any of the key stages could be pivotal in the Tour de France that you’ve identified at the moment?

Well, every day of the Tour de France, there is no easy day in the Tour de France now and right from Stage One the race is going to be on… it’s why we love watching the Tour de France, for how unpredictable it is. 

All being well, I would have to say it will come down to the last weekend and the time trial, the Planche des Belles Filles, in some ways I hope that it’s going to come down to that and the winners are going to be decided there because it will mean we are set for three weeks of exciting racing which looks like it is going to come down to the wire.  

What is your analysis on Team INEOS, any inside track on what’s going within that team?

The fact that they haven’t picked Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas shows you that they’ve probably picked a squad based on form and they’ve picked the strongest squad they have and possess at the moment in order to do the job. 

I suppose there was always a chance they would leave Chris Froome out because he’s on a forward trajectory from where he was this time last year and he is probably not just ready yet but Geraint Thomas, I guess no one saw that coming really, including myself. We had just become accustomed to thinking that Geraint would be the first on the team list every time you pick a Tour team but that tells you that maybe Geraint isn’t in the best of shape with the year we’ve had and how unpredictable it’s been. 

Last year you said that INEOS could win with two riders, do you still think that or is Jumbo-Visma now the favourite team and if so, with which rider?

I think the challenge is going to come from pretty much Roglic with a back-up of Dumoulin but we don’t know where Dumoulin is quite at. Is he quite at the level he was before his crash over a year ago now? That remains to be seen but I think that all this uncertainty means we are going to be in for a hell of a race over the three weeks and I can’t wait to get it started – I think it’s still going to make for a great race.

Would the absence of fans have an impact at all on the Tour?  What would be the feeling amongst the cyclists?  

The race will still be run off and the riders will still be as competitive as they are and racing against each other. I don't think it will affect the race outcome, I don't think there is any rider who will put it down to the fact that there was no fans as to why they didn’t.  

There will certainly be fans on the roadside but it’s not going to be to the level that we’ve seen in the past and I think that’ll be new for everyone to challenge and watch but I don't think it will impact on the overall result. 

What’s your favourite moment from the Tour?  Have you got one or two moments there?

Being on the bike riding the peloton would have been pretty up there in terms of working as a broadcaster.

There are two really that stand out to mind and they are both actually on the same stretch of road. I watched the Tour de France when I was 13 stood on the corner of the Place de la Concorde before you swing onto the Champs Elysees. Then 19 years later I get to ride across the Place de la Concorde in the yellow jersey leading out my best mate, Mark Cavendish, who was a British World Champion, who won the stage.

Eight years later I get to come across it as a broadcaster on the back of a motorbike onto the Champs Elysees, talking about the British Tour de France rider who is in there, who had won the year before. So, three moments on the same stretch of road, on the most prestigious finish in cycling on the Champs Elysees, in the same city, in Paris, years apart from each other and they are the ones in three very different positions.

SIr Bradley Wiggins is part of Eurosport's Tour de France coverage, which starts on Saturday 29 August LIVE on Eurosport, the Eurosport App and the GCN App across Europe.