THE BRADLEY WIGGINS SHOW: WHY GERAINT THOMAS IS A BETTER THAN ME

Wiggins on stage nine of the Tour de France [5:10]

It was just a classic Tour de France stage, a transition stage really, and they are the hardest stages, you don't really get a view of it on the TV, but it is up and down all day, and obviously the breakaway got 10-12 minutes because there was no danger to the GC in there, but it's always a good opportunity for someone out of the GC to get a stage win.

I can't remember a Tour like this where we didn't have that first week of sprint stages, I actually think it's been better racing, better to watch, better with the team time-trial, better with a summit finish that early in the race rather than the things they did last year like the grid system at the start of a stage.

Wiggins on Geraint Thomas' performance so far [8:34]

I said at the start of the race, that's where he differs from me, thats why G is a better rider than me, because my motivation was based on perfect preparation and if there was a seed of doubt, I would sort of fall apart a bit, whereas G, he is so mentally strong, because he hasn't had a perfect year, but that hasn't bothered him, he will still race the race, still take it on like he did the other day, he's not doubting his ability. With his age and his experience, he must be on his 10th Tour de France now, because of his mental strength and his laid-back character, his focus, I think he can win a second Tour de France, he has proved it this week. As long as things don't go drastically wrong for him, he is in the position to win it.

Wiggins on Thomas' main rivals [11:25]

Pinot is having a go isn't he! I mean, Alaphilippe is amazing as well, over the last 12 months, the amount of races he has won, but we've only had a six kilometre climb, we haven't really hit the big mountains yet, we will see. Bernal is not far behind, but has he got to abide team orders and help G? The sad thing is, I can't see anyone in that top-10 at the moment who has the balls to take on Ineos. Someone like Nibali would, but he's a way off at the moment, someone like Landa would but he is also some way off.

These guys already a week in, they have lost so much time and it's difficult to see them getting it back. We see the same old story playing out each year, G can ride his bike, that's where he is at his best during these sprint stages and early stages, because he was a Madison rider, because he was Olympic team pursuit champion, he puts himself in the position every year that will line him up for the win, and that's what gives him the edge over everyone else. The sad thing is, I can't see anyone else in that top-10 challenging bar some big catastrophe happening. These guys will be looking at the race now and thinking, 'I can get on the podium here', I can't imagine them thinking, 'I am going to try and win the Tour'.

With Pinot, I am not sure with him, I am not sure about the team [FDJ] he's got around him in the car, so inexperienced in winning, obviously I have been in that team and they've progressed since then.

Wiggins on where Carapaz will fit in at Team Ineos [14:19]

He fits in where everyone else fits in, you either become a leader on your day and take your opportunity, or you become part of that train that's sitting at 450watts, bringing that group from 10 down to six. I said it during the Giro coverage, he's won the Giro, so they will be paying him heavily, why wouldn't you want to go to Ineos and benefit from the technology and the finance they've got? Why wouldn't you? It's not the riders’ fault. It doesn't lend itself to the longevity of the sport and how competitive it's going to be, because Ineos are getting stronger and stronger, they've got more money than anyone else. It's not just about the money though, they've got the set-up and the infrastructure, you need money to do that, but they've got the brains as well.

So why wouldn't you want to go there? Go there with other great riders and benefit from that.

Wiggins on the interference of TV motorbikes during Tour de France stages [16:50]

They have always been a part of cycling. Look back at 'A Sunday in Hell', there is a reason you can see Freddy Maertens face, it's because the camera motorbike is there. They are part and parcel of racing. Yes the cyclists are what it is all about, but without the TV cameras, you won't have the viewership, you won't have the money, you've got to coexist. It's the same argument as you have on whether the spectators stand to close. A lot of riders are hypocritical, it's great when you are benefitting from it, but when you are on the bad end of it, you complain. The viewers are so important at the end of the day, you need people watching it otherwise you get no money. The reason you have a job, the reason you get paid, is because we have a sport that is on TV all the time now, so we've all benefitted from the motorbikes at one point or another, so get up the front and get on with it.

In the Tour, when you get to the TT stages, if you're off last in the yellow jersey, you get to motorcycles ahead of you, because they keep the crowds back so you can actually ride. So you could say you're benefitting from that because you've got two police bikes rather than one. Sometimes they aren't looking in their mirrors because they are more worried about what's up ahead, so you can get right behind them and you get more of a benefit. Everyone benefits from them at some point.

Wiggins on his role on the back of a motorbike [20:42]

Absolutely brilliant, license to take the p*ss for me. I got to see a lot of guys I hadn't seen for ages, a lot of DS's. It's just seeing the race for what it is now where I am at in my life, it's about the viewer, I've got that in my head now. It things that are second nature to me that viewers and home don't know. I remember stage one, people saying they didn't know about the things I was talking about. Dan Martin stopped for a p*ss with 55km to go, and I said it was his last opportunity now for the GC guys to go for a p*ss because it's only going to get faster and faster from this point and you risk not getting back on. So it's things like that which are second nature to me because I have raced for 20 years, but the viewer might not know that. Like going through the feed, Christian Knees always used to take my feed bag as well as his, because you risk crashing with a string bag. So I am there to tell people what is happening. At the same time, I am not going to be all newsreader, I am going to have a laugh with it as well.