Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) has vented his complete confidence in the Team Sky leader at the Tour de France, Chris Froome, naming him the favourite to win La Grande Boucle and describing his support cast at Sky the superior squad in the French Grand Tour.

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season Wiggins expressed his ambition to win the World Time Trial Championship, and dismissed all thoughts of possible retirement plans.

Wiggins’ comments on the Team Sky website differed markedly in tone compared to previous remarks made by the 2012 Tour de France winner, when he hinted he may never again be able to make the sacrifices he feels he needs to make to win the Tour de France for a second time.

Wiggins entered the current season with the Giro d’Italia as his main objective, but illness caused a significant drop in his performance level, and subsequently forced him to abandon the race. At present Wiggins is back to training at full strength and has identified his goals for the remainder of the season and has thus found the time to publicly reflect on his Sky Procycling team’s choices for the Tour de France, which he loyally called “a great team”.

“There are other guys in the team that could fulfil the role of helping Chris [Froome] far better than I could have done at this stage, and knowing that is a huge relief because my biggest fear was going there and not being able to do a job for Chris,” Wiggins elaborated. “We’ve got such strength in depth at Team Sky at the moment. The team we have going to the Tour is certainly the strongest on paper and we’re on track to win the race again. I think the team is as experienced this year as it was last – and it could even be stronger this year because the squad of riders we have now is better than ever before.

“We’ve got guys like Pete [Kennaugh] and Ian [Stannard] who are both riding their first Tour so that motivation will take them up a level, and the rest of the guys are incredibly hungry for success. It’s a great team.”

Wiggins displayed little doubt when identifying teammate Chris Froome as the odd-on favourite to walk away with the honours when the race finishes in Paris. An assessment that most observers would share given Froome’s outstanding performances during the season so far.

“Chris has been the best athlete on the team this year and he deserves that leadership role,” Wiggins added. “He is without a doubt the favourite for the Tour, and physically, I think he has everything there to win the Tour. As we see every year, crashes occur and other things that are beyond your control, but if Chris can stay upright and not lose any time before the big mountains then he’s got a great chance of winning the Tour.

“Nothing has fazed Chris this year and I think that will continue at the Tour. His biggest challenge will come from [Alberto] Contador, but for sure he’s the favourite. He’s beaten Contador at Oman and the Dauphiné already, so he certainly won’t be over-awed by him.”

Some pundits have been wondering if Wiggins would be able to readjust his 2013 season after abandoning the Giro but Wiggins easily mentioned the Tour of Poland and the Tour of Britain as his next targets, saying that he would be happy to again compete in his home tour. Subsequently he will turn his attention to the World Time Trial Championship. That is a race which Wiggins definitely has the capabilities to win, although the British specialist identified two major obstacles to that quest.

“I’ve always wanted to wear the rainbow jersey. When I won the time trial at the Olympics last year I thought to myself, ‘I’d love to add the World title to that,’” Wiggins added. “I’m under no illusions, though, it’s not going to be easy. Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara are two of the greatest time trialists of all time and it’s going to take a lot of effort to be up there with them. I’m really keen to put the work in for that over the next few months and this is something that I’ve always wanted to do.

“I’m injury free now. It took a while but we got to the bottom of it and I’ve just started an intensive six-week block now that will take me through to the end of July. All being well, I’ll make my comeback at the Tour of Poland. My main focus for the rest of this year is the World Time Trial Championships at the end of September. I’ll be riding the Tour of Britain before that as preparation, and I’m really pleased about that. The Tour of Britain is getting bigger every year and the crowds that come there make it a lovely race to compete in. We had looked at the possibility of riding the Vuelta a España instead, but the Tour of Britain was too much of a call for me. I love riding that race and I’d like to do well in it.”

Wiggins reiterated his previous statements made to The Guardian, claiming he would look into new horizons now that the Tour de France has been won. However, he made it clear that retirement was not a prospect being considered.

“I’ve won the Tour – achieved that goal – but there are so many other things I’ve always wanted to achieve, both in and out of the sport,” Wiggins insisted. “I’ve never thought about retiring. I enjoy training, working hard, and I’ve still got much more left in me. I take inspiration from guys like Cadel [Evans] in that respect. He had a disappointing year after his Tour win but he’s right back to his best now. Cycling’s like that and I don’t think people fully appreciate how much it takes out of you, and how hard you have to work at it.

“At this stage I just want to focus on what I’ve got immediately ahead of me and then we’ll get to the end of the season and sit down as a team and start planning for the next couple of years.”