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 Kl?den, 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, Benjam?n Noval, Dmitriy Muravyev, Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast & Tomas Vaitkus.
The final squad roster will be announced soon.
Financial Troubles
The financial troubles that plagued Team Astana during the Giro d’Italia which resulted in the team ‘fading out’ the logos of unpaid sponsors on their jerseys left their mark. While they survived the UCI deadline there were speculations that Lance Armstrong would still have to ‘save’ the team. Two of three conditions of the UCI have been met allowing Astana to ride in the Tour de France.
"The third condition concerns the guarantee for the rest of the season, which is the responsibility of the UCI," Bruyneel added. "To my knowledge, it’s not yet been done."
Website: Astana Cycling Team
