If Lance Armstrong returns to pro racing with team Astana – an announcement is expected in the coming weeks, at the latest on September 24 – Euskaltel's Haimar Zubeldia will be one of the American's team-mates and a possible helper for him at the Tour de France. The Basque climber participated in his last race for the orange-clad squad at the Hamburg Cyclassics last Sunday. Next year, he will adhere to the team managed by Johan Bruyneel, where he will join such stage race specialists as Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Klöden as well as possibly the seven-times Tour de France winner Armstrong.
Zubeldia said that he was ready to team up with the American, whom he rivaled at the Tour four times (2001, 2002, 2003 – when he finished fifth – and 2005). In 2006, Zubeldia achieved an eighth placing, and last year, he finished fifth again. The Basque climber noted that he would have signed with Astana anyway, even if the news of Armstrong's return would have come earlier.
