Wiggins and Froome can team up again, says Team Sky boss

Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome could line up alongside each other for the 2014 Tour de France, says Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford.

Froome, 28, was chosen to lead Team Sky's 2013 challenge, despite Wiggins saying he wanted to defend his title as their relationship came under scrutiny.

Wiggins, 33, later withdrew because of illness and injury while Froome went on to win the yellow jersey.

"I don't spend a nanosecond worrying whether they get on," said Brailsford.

"People talk about having team unity and team harmony. I don't buy that at all. Most of the best teams I've been with, they're not harmonious environments.

"This is not a harmonious environment. This is a gritty environment where people are pushing really hard.

"What you need is goal harmony, and there's a big difference between the two.

"You can't rule anything out. Once you start ruling things out, saying, 'No he can't do this, he can't do that'... We're not in the game of ruling things out, we're in the game of ruling things in."

Froome's fiancee and manager Michelle Cound told BBC Sport during the Tour that he has agreed a new contract with Team Sky until the end of the 2016 season.

Wiggins has endured a frustrating 2013 which has left question marks over whether he will race in the Tour de France again.

He targeted the Giro d'Italia only to withdraw early in the race suffering from a chest infection, and a subsequent knee injury then hampered his recovery and ended his hopes of being ready for the Tour.

Wiggins will return to action in the one-week Tour of Poland, which starts on Saturday, 27 August with one eye on the world championship time trial in Florence in September.

"What he's done this year is adjust very quickly, reset his goals, which is standard procedure for him," Brailsford added.

"He's very, very motivated and in great shape now, going into Poland, and then on to the individual time trial at the worlds."