Following a long period of silence of his Sky team, Bradley Wiggins has seen the writing on the wall and now admits that he is unlikely to be part of the roster for the Tour de France. The 2012 winner of the race has realized that only if Chris Froome crashes in the Criterium du Dauphiné will their be room for him in the line-up and he now claims that he will probably have to leave Sky to again do the world's biggest race.

Already at the start of the season, Bradley Wiggins made it clear that one of his big goals for the 2014 season was a return to the Tour de France where he last raced to victory in 2012. This time, however, it would not be to seek personal glory but to put himself in service of defending champion Chris Froome.

When he won the Tour of California in commanding fashion, he repeated his wish and everything seemed to be on track for the 2012 champio to return to the race. Since then things have unravelled though and he now admits that he is unlikely to be part of the roster.

The first hint already came earlier this week when the team announced their rosters for the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse. While the core of the Tour team will be riding in France, Wiggins is set to lead the team in Switzerland.

"I miss it [the Tour]," he told L'Equipe in an interview. "But if I want to do the Tour again I probably have to leave Sky.

"I am a little disappointed but I think that I can say that as things stand, I will not be at the Tour de France. After Paris-Roubaix and California, I was physically fit and ready to go. But in recent weeks, it has become clear that unless something happens to Froome in the Dauphiné, I will not be at the Tour. That's clear."

"I am sad because I tried all season to prepare for it. It is disappointing as it could have been my last Tour de France. Last week I got the option to go back on the track with afocus on the Commonwealth Games in late July as an alternative plan as it is a great event in the UK. So as things stand, I will do the individual and team pursuit with a view towards the Olympic Games in Rio di Janeiro. And then I hope to do the Vuelta.

"If Froome gets injured [I may do the Tour]. If something happens to him in the Dauphiné, I could be part of the team to help Richie Porte, for example. But if something happens to a teammate, I won't be the substitute."

Wiggins admits that he is not surprised.

"To be honest, I have suspected it since April," he said. "After Roubaix, I still had some hope that my good performance would earn me a place in the Tour team. Bu then, after California, I knew that they were all at altitude and I was not there. The I probably knew that I wouldn't go to the Tour."

Despite his disappointment, Wiggins accepts the situation.

"This is obviously disappointing for me but the team wants to win the Tour," he said. "That's the problem. We can't go there and have any kind of issues that will affect the riders and the staff. It would be disastrous. Furthermore, there are a lot of riders that can do the job [of supporting Froome]. As a former winner and with the race starting in the UK, it would have been great to be there. So personally it is disappointing but I can also understand why they have selected this team

"I miss the Tour. To be honest, I miss riding in France. In the ideal world the palan was that Chris and I were both at the Tour and eveyrthing woul be fine. I have realized that I would play a supporting role and Chris would be the leader to try to win a second Tour. I was 100% behind him."

Wiggins wants to do another Tour de France before turning his attention fully to the track. He now admits that he may have to leave Sky to do so and has been linked with both Garmin and Orica-GreenEDGE.

"I planned to go back to the rack next winter but I like the Tour and now want to concentrate on the road again," he said. "This will allow me to try my luck in Roubaix again. And then try to go to the Tour as a super domestique as I wanted to do this year, to ride onto the Champs Elysees with the yellow jersey behind me. But it may not happen with Sky. For now I consider all options but as things stand I have no offer from Sky.

"I think it's pretty obvious now that if I could not do the Tour this year, then next year... The answer is almost obvious. If I want to do the Tour, I probably have to leave Sky. Indeed, I have spoke with Orica, I know [sports director] Matt White from Garmin. But it was just a small talk, no real negotiations."

Wiggins will start the Tour de Suisse on June 14.