Armstrong among 6 riders picked for Astana Cycling Tour de France team

Armstrong earns spot on Astana’s Tour team

Lance Armstrong will be on Astana Cycling’s final nine-rider roster for the Tour de France next month.

Armstrong, a seven-time Tour winner, will be joined on the team by three-time Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, Andreas Kloden, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia.

Three other riders from a list of seven will also earn spots on the roster for the Tour, which begins July 4 in Monaco. That group includes Jani Brajkovic, Chris Horner, Benjamin Noval, Dmitriy Muravyev, Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast and Tomas Vaitkus.

Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel said in a statement Thursday that the complete roster “will be chosen based on the strongest team from both a sportive and team-spirit criteria.”