CONTADOR FINALLY SIGNS WITH ASTANA

2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has signed with Astana for the next two seasons, and will make cycling?s blue riband event his main objective for 2008.

Rumours had abounded that the Spaniard might not finally sign with the Kazakh squad in its new ?Mark III' format, with his team manager from Discovery Channel, Johan Bruyneel, as the new boss. Contador?s agent Tony Rominger ? or former agent, if some sources are to be to believed - had said that the 24-year-old was worried that signing for Astana might affect his image.

But Rominger?s comments were brushed aside by Contador himself, and the announcement puts an end to weeks of speculation as to where the Spaniard was going to be racing next season.

?My main objective will be the Tour and to wear the yellow jersey in Paris again,? Contador said in a press release. ?I?ve opted for Astana because it?s a team which has solid sporting objectives and which will give me every opportunity to have a great squad for the Tour.?

Bruyneel himself argued that the Astana project was ?magnificent? and that Contador was ?the rider of the future. We will have a great team in place for the start of the 2008 Tour de France.?

Watch out for news of the 2008 Tour de France route on www.cyclingweekly.com this Thursday

RELATED LINKS

Contador: Astana deal no longer a certainty

Astana officially sign Bruyneel