The Astana cycling team, who recently won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, comes with a strong team to the 60th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (June 8-15) to defend its first place in the overall ProTour team classification. On the menu: a prologue, two flat stages, an individual time trial and, at 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 team line-up:

Riders: Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, Daniel Navarro, Sergio Paulinho, Benjamin Noval, José Luis Rubiera, Jani Brajkovic and Tomas Vaitkus.

Team director: Alain Gallopin.