Froome, the team's leading rider and a three-time Tour de France champion, failed to show any sign of public support for Sir Dave last week as his team-mates jumped to the principal's defence in light of riders possibly asking for his resignation.

The 31-year-old appeared to remain silent on the issue, tweeting only a picture of himself having dinner in a South African restaurant where he was training.

Now, seven days later, the double Olympic Games time trial bronze medallist has now spoken out, declaring his support for Sir Dave.

"With respect to Dave Brailsford, he has created one of the best sports teams in the world," Froome said in a statement.

"Without Dave B, there is no Team Sky.

"He has supported me throughout the last seven years of my career and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunities and the experiences I’ve had.

"By his own admission, mistakes have been made, but protocols have been put in place to ensure that those same mistakes will not be made again.

"I know it will take time for faith to be restored but I will do my utmost to ensure that happens, along with everyone else at Team Sky."

An article published by Cyclingnews a week ago claimed that a number of Team Sky cyclists had talked about the possibility of approaching Sir Dave and asking him to step down.

British Cycling and Team Sky are currently at the centre of a UK Anti-Doping nvestigation into a "mystery package" delivered for cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine.

Sir Dave has revealed that he had been told that fluimucil, a decongestant, was delivered to Sir Bradley during the traditional build-up race for the Tour de France.

The product is used to treat coughs and sore throats.

Several Team Sky riders have posted in the last few days their support for Sir Dave social media last week.

Geraint Thomas, part of Team Sky since 2010, was one of those offering his full backing.

"It shouldn’t even need saying, but we all back Dave B 100 per cent," his tweet read.

"I’ve known him a long time and I wouldn’t want anyone else leading Team Sky.”

Peter Kennaugh, Luke Rowe, Owain Doull and Michal Kwiatkowski, the 2014 International Cycling Union Road Race World Championships winner, also voiced their confidence in Sir Dave.

Days later Sir Dave reaffirmed his commitment to Team Sky and said that he has no intention of standing down.

Last week also saw further misery inflicted on Sir Dave after a damning verdict on British Cycling's world-class performance programme was leaked.

The review, which the Daily Mail claimed to have seen, accused British Cycling of "sanitising" the report into Jess Varnish’s allegations of discrimination against its former technical director Shane Sutton.

The panel also is claimed to believe that Sir Dave, who resigned as performance director of British Cycling in April 2014 when he left to concentrate on his role with Team Sky, and Sutton were given too much power and had too much free rein of the organisation, giving birth to a "dysfunctional leadership structure".

A date has still not been confirmed for the official publishing of the report, but a statement issued on behalf of the relevant parties said they are "very disappointed" that the report was leaked.

UK Sport claimed it is "satisfied" at the plan drawn up by the Board of British Cycling in response to the leaked findings as well as the appointment of British Cycling chairman Jonathan Browning in February.

"Both UK Sport and Sport England supported the move that the British Cycling Board took to elect Jonathan Browning, one of their independent Board members, to chair the organisation, pending the agreement and implementation of that action plan, to set it on a journey to address the necessary changes to both culture and governance," they said in the statement.

"Further to this, both UK Sport and Sport England were involved in the appointment of the new chief executive, Julie Harrington, and UK Sport was also involved in the appointment of the new performance director, Stephen Park.

"Both have an important role to play in delivering the necessary changes."