Former Team Sky head coach Shane Sutton has expressed his belief that Sir Bradley Wiggins's withdrawal from the Tour de France will "massively weaken" the team.

Wiggins is currently the reigning Tour champion after his historic victory last year, but yesterday announced that he wouldn't be defending his title due to a chest infection and a knee injury.

The 33-year-old was set to act as a support rider for teammate Chris Froome during the event, and while Sutton believes that Wiggins's absence is a blow for the team as a whole, he also thinks that it could be a blessing in disguise for Froome.

"This is a great loss to Team Sky. They will have been weakened by the loss of Wiggins massively, whether he was there to win the Tour or play a support role as Froome did for him last year," Sutton told BBC Radio Five live.

"Team Sky will be weakened but I'm sure Froomey will be breathing a lot easier. It takes away that threat of your teammate actually beating you, and I think he'll be really up for it now.

"Unfortunately you've got two of the best bike riders in the world on the same team and Froomey will be there thinking, 'This is my opportunity, I need to seize on it', and I'm sure he'll do well. Froome goes in as red-hot favourite to win the Tour and possibly the only guy that could have beaten him would have been Bradley."

The 2013 Tour de France will begin on June 29.