The public debate concerning the Sky captaincy role in this year's Tour de France goes on and the latest contributor is Team Sky performance advisor Shane Sutton. The Briton who was an integral part of Wiggins' successful 2012 season, suggests that the reigning Tour champion should take on a support role in his title defence with Chris Froome being the most consistent in the early part of the season.

From the moment Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome stepped down from the podium in Paris at the end of last year's Tour de France, there has been a public discussion of the Sky captaincy role for this year's edition of the world's biggest bike race. On two occasions, Froome was asked to wait for his team leader in last year's race, and the Kenyan-born Briton has done nothing to hide that he would like to ride for himself in France come July.

Wiggins decided to target the Giro d'Italia, at first appearing to settling for a support role in the Tour. However, he later retracted those statements and suggested that the team should start the race with a dual captaincy role and ride for whoever was the strongest of the two.

The team moved quickly to confirm that Froome was the team leader for the Tour but since Wiggins was forced to abandon the Giro early due to illness, the debate has once again started. The latest to make his opinion clear is Sky performance advisor Shane Sutton who suggests that the team should back Froome this year.

"I think that, at this moment in time, you base it on the evidence before you and Froome will be the nominated rider," he told Daily Mail. "Bradley will just have to settle for a support role. Froome has won continually this year. I think just about every race he has ridden he has won. Brad hasn't had a win since last August so I think the team will very much be getting behind Chris, as Chris did with Brad last year."

So far Froome has participated in 4 stage races this season, and while he finished 2nd in the Tirreno-Adriatico, he won the Tour of Oman, Criterium International and the Tour de Romandy. On the contrary, Bradley Wiggins came up short in both the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro del Trentino and was then forced to give up his Giro ambitions.

"If Brad is riding the Tour and is over his illnesses and whatever, he will have to get behind the team," Sutton added. "I think, if we can get that good dynamic environment in there for us and they can forget the past, we can push for another win in the Tour."

The team has continued to downplay any internal rivalry. Chris Froome is expected to use the Criterium du Dauphine - which has been won by Wiggins twice in a row - as his final preparation for the Tour while the team has not made any confirmation of Wiggins' modified race programme.