Road: Astana’s Tour de France Pre-selection Team Announced

June 18, 2009 - The Astana Cycling Team announced today the list of 13 riders from where the 9 final riders will be selected to contest the 2009 Tour de France, beginning July 4th in Monaco. “The complete 2009 Tour roster will be chosen based on the strongest team from both a sportive and team-spirit criteria,” said Astana’s General Manager, Johan Bruyneel.

The following 6 riders will be on the final roster, and includes 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and 3-time Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador. Joining them will be Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia.

Of the remaining 7 riders on the pre-selection list, 3 will make the final squad. These riders are: Jani Brajkovic, Chris Horner, Benjamín Noval, Dmitriy Muravyev, Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast and Tomas Vaitkus.

The final squad roster will be announced soon.