Not sure what his contract position is with Sky but he can’t be happy staying there for another year unless he’s given the chance to ride as the team leader in the Grand Tours.

pretty sure they were on the verge of dropping him at the end of 2011, then the Vuelta happened and he suddenly got a big cheque for a (2 yr?) contract?

Froome has benefited from being Wiggin’s wing-man, having the strongest team in the tour doing all the work for them. On any other team he’d be in the same position as Nibali, Evans et al and pretty much riding on his own. I think he probably is the better rider, certainly a more accomplished climber (wiggin’s one speed already well known from 2009 TdeF Ventoux stage and 2011 Vuelta) and he will captain a grand tour with Sky, and the Giro organisers love of crazy steeps would suit him more than Wiggins?

if he’d been allowed to go, and took Nibali with him, he could have significantly dented Bradley’s chances without necessarily improving his own. He might have subsequently dropped Nibali but there was no way to know that at that point and hence he had to go for the safe option.

Also, he’d looked like he’d popped shortly before that- in the team car they’d probably be wondering how likely it was that would happen again if he took off on his own.