October 4, 2007 — The 2007 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), may have found a team for 2008 and there are indications that he’ll bring team manager Johan Bruyneel with him to Astana according to AFP, citing reports in the Spanish media.

The 24-year-old Spaniard has been in the very unusual position of having the 2007 TdF win under his belt, but still having to look for a new team ever since Discovery announced that they are folding at the end of this season. It is also rumoured that American Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), who finished third at the 2006 TdF, may also jump to Astana.

Major changes have been in the works at Astana since Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping at the 2007 TdF, forcing the entire team to withdraw from the race. But the team has revealed little publicly and Marc Biver officially remains in charge.

“Marc Biver, directer general of Astana Cycling Team, has not succeeded in reaching a satisfactory agreement with the Kazakh cycling federation with a view to modifications to the current Astana team,” claimed a team statement yesterday. No notices of a change of management appear on the team website.

Belgian Johan Bruyneel has served as the team manager of Discovery Channel (formerly US Postal) since 1999, seeing his riders win eight of the past nine TdFs, including seven with Lance Armstrong.

Despite being based in Switzerland, the team is sponsored by state-owned companies from Kazahkstan, including Air Astana. In December 2006, the UCI License Commission awarded Astana Team a four-year ProTour license. No North Americans currently ride for Astana.

Astana’s website is found at www.team-astana.eu