At the beginning of the year there was a bit of uncertainty over who would be leading Team Sky at the Tour de France. Although, ostensibly, Bradley Wiggins was set to target the Giro d'Italia, he kept making noises indicating he wanted to lead the Tour de France as well. This must have been so frustrating for Chris Froome, who worked so hard to help secure Wiggo the yellow jersey in 2012. The management didn't exactly shout from the rooftops that Froome would, without question, be the leader at the Tour de France, although in the world of cycling that was probably for the best, as it only takes a broken collar bone or fractured leg to significantly alter a rider's schedule.
When you take a look at how Froome and Wiggins have been performing this year, it is evident that Froome is in the form of his life, having won a variety of races from the Tour of Oman in February to the Critérium du Dauphiné in June. Nobody is questioning Froome's ability to continue to hold that form, having seen Wiggo successfully do so in 2012. Unfortunately, 2013 hasn't been Wiggo's year, having achieved only a fifth in the Giro del Trentino and the Volta a Catalunya and withdrawing from the Giro d'Italia after stage 12. It was hard to judge his form during the Giro, but there was some surprise when he failed to shine as much as was expected in the first time trial. Plus, he lost time after being held up by a crash and experienced a crash of his own, which seemed to knock his confidence when descending. Ultimately, he withdrew because of a chest infection, although there was speculation that maybe his form wasn't there or that he didn't have the necessary motivation to continue.
After withdrawing, Wiggins initially seemed to suggest he would be training in order to be able to ride the Tour de France. However, it soon emerged he had a knee injury and that there would not be enough time for him to recover and put in the training needed to be completely fit for the race. Of course, this was bound to lead to questions being asked about the 'real' reason why Wiggins wasn't going to defend his title. Had there been an agreement with Froome that Wiggo wouldn't ride Le Tour? Had management decided it would be too risky to have dual leadership with Wiggo's temperamental persona? Did Wiggins decide he didn't want to play second fiddle to Froome? Whatever the reason for Wiggins apparently deciding not to contest Le Tour, it obviously comes as some relief to Froome that his role as leader will be unchallenged by anyone else on the team.
If Wiggo was going to ride the 2013 edition of the Tour de France, it was almost guaranteed that the media would focus all their attention on the relationship between the two riders, especially as there appears to be no love lost between the two since Froome's apparent 'attack' on Wiggins in the 2012 edition of Le Tour. Overall, it would seem that whoever made the decision that Wiggo shouldn't ride Le Tour has realised that there needs to be clarity of purpose and that Wiggo's presence would have only confused the situation. Now, the focus can be on the racing between those targeting the GC on different teams, instead of competing egos within the same team.
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