Will Bradley Wiggins be lured away from Garmin-Slipstream, his current sponsor, to join David Brailsford’s shiny new Team SKY, the multi-million pound British-based road racing team with the Tour de France in their sights?

Wiggins became one of the hottest properties in cycling by finishing fourth in this year's Tour de France and the guessing-game over his plans — partly fuelled by a series of cryptic comments on his Twitter page — has intensified in recent weeks.

Judging from comments Wiggins has now made to BBC Sport, the deal is very much on. Success in the Tour, he said is “a bit like trying to win the Champions League. To win the Champions League you go to Man United and I'm probably playing at Wigan.”

Wearing a Team GB tracksuit with the SKY logo prominently emblazoned on the collar, a coy Wiggins said: “I’ve had a good time at Garmin, but times have changed.“

Team GB backroom staff played a key role in Wiggins’ preparation for the Tour in July, with conditioning and dietary advice given by Nigel Mitchell and Matt Parker. “We worked really hard," Wiggins said. "It wasn’t something that happened overnight.”

Brailsford, the Team SKY director, conscious perhaps of the contractual wrangles that may yet have to be resolved, stuck to the line that he has maintained in recent weeks. “There are two or three more spots to fill,” he said, a smile playing on his lips. “Key British riders are under contract and we have to respect that.”

But there was something in the body language of both men that will have made Jonathan Vaughters’ heart sink. Garmin-Slipstream’s American manager has consistently maintained — as has David Millar, Wiggins’s Tour de France room-mate and Garmin stakeholder — that the Olympic gold medallist is staying put.

If, as now seems likely, Wiggins does move to SKY, compensation for Garmin may come in the form of Alberto Contador, the Tour de France champion who is keen to escape an unhappy relationship with Astana, his current sponsor.

The Spaniard is thought to be mulling over an offer from the American team. “He’s an incredible rider and would be a fantastic rider to have on any team,” Vaughters said earlier this year. “But negotiations with riders is not something we would discuss.”

*Jeremy Whittle is the author of Bad Blood: the secret life of the Tour de France.