The way i see it is simple, Wiggins was strong enough to win the tour, Froome may have been strong enough to equal but we will never know if he could beat Wiggins in 2012, but team orders are team orders.
Next comes the backlash after the tour, alot said but I can see two clear points;
Froome was very strong last year and enough to dictate at least equal leadership pending performance. Wiggins not having equal leadership would be injustice for TDF winner from last year(yes Wiggins is a bit of a dog if he actually said this face to face to Froome rather than media).
Wiggins has the argument that he won last years TDF and will be riding to defend. Even with a podium at the Giro, I cant blame the bloke for wanting to defend if he feels he has the legs. Could you imagine being the reigning TDF champ sitting there with good legs and sit back and do the team thing.
If Brad Wiggins has previously said face to face to Froome with an honest conversation that he will ride 100% for him at the tour 2013 and wont, thats a dog act. Media conversations should be taken with a grain of salt.
There is a massive world behind the scenes for that team, isnt the media attention so fantastic that its focusing on the TEAM SKY gc riders than the regular tdf winner debate. Win to SKY
Cycling is a business, they are paid to ride just as regular workers are paid to work, if Sky cant manage that then its no different to a corporate environment, if a rider isnt happy that there is no promotion, they can quit.
Money talks people, I wouldn't be surprised if Sky hasnt already got this worked out and building hype about it. Honest truth is we will prob never know.