Cycling: Chris Froome in form to lead Team Sky's Tour de France bid

Chris Froome expects to be Team Sky's lead rider at the Tour de France (Getty Images)

Chris Froome is certain he will lead Team Sky's Tour de France challenge this summer ahead of the defending champion, Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Froome, 27, won the 7.5km prologue at the Tour de Romandie – a race Wiggins won last year on his way to becoming Britain's first Tour winner. Wiggins' 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 29 June and finishes in Paris on 21 July.

"I am 100 per cent leader," Froome said. "That hasn't changed since January. From what I understand, everyone has bought into that plan and that is the way we are going to go into the Tour."

Wiggins will concentrate on the Tour of Italy's pink jersey but, should he come out of the Giro in peak condition, there is still the potential for a leadership battle to unfold.

Team Sky's head of performance, Tim Kerrison, said: "For the moment, we are preparing Bradley to ride the Giro and we are preparing Chris to be the leader in the Tour de France. As we get closer to the event, we'll have a look again at the form of all our riders and make sure we have the strongest team to win the yellow jersey again."