Although the team has been snubbed by the Tour de France organisers this year, the Astana squad will be competing in the Dauphiné Libéré, starting this Sunday in Southern France. On the menu: a prologue, two flat stages, an individual time trial and, in the end, three difficult stages in the Alps (Col du Joux-Plane in stage 5, Col de la Croix de Fer and La Toussuire in stage 6 and Col du Granier, Col du Cucheron and Col de Porte in stage 7). The aim of the outfit directed by Alain Gallopin will be to defend its first place in the ProTour Team Classification, and help American Levi Leipheimer to a top overall placing.
The complete team line-up is: Jani Brajkovic, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Daniel Navarro, Sergio Paulinho, Benjamin Noval, José Luis Rubiera and Tomas Vaitkus.
