Chris Froome’s sure of lead role for Tour de France

Chris Froome is convinced he will lead Team Sky’s Tour de France challenge this summer.

The 27-year-old (above, centre) was runner-up last summer as Sir Bradley Wiggins became Britain’s first Tour winner.

Wiggins’s focus in 2013 is on next month’s Giro d’Italia and he is in line to support Froome in the 100th Tour, which begins in Corsica on June 29.

“I am 100 per cent leader,” Froome told Sky Sports News. “From what I understand, everyone has bought into that plan and that is the way we are going to go into the Tour.”

Team Sky head of performance Tim Kerrison said: “For the moment, we are preparing Bradley to ride the Giro and we are preparing Chris Froome to be the leader in the Tour. As we get closer to the event, we’ll have a look again at the form of all our riders.”