Team Astana earlier today announced a list of 13 riders from which the final nine riders will be selected to represent the team in the 2009 Tour de France, beginning on July 4th in Monaco.

“The complete 2009 Tour roster will be chosen based on the strongest team from both sportive and team-spirit criteria,” said Astana’s General Manager, Johan Bruyneel.

Six riders are already chosen for the final Team Astana 2009 our de France roster. They include 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and 3-time Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador. Joining them will be Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Klöden, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia.

The team has selected seven additional riders of which three riders will be part of the final squad. These riders are: Jani Brajkovic, Chris Horner, Benjamín Noval, Dmitriy Muravyev, Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast and Tomas Vaitkus. Surprisingly the list does not include Rubiera.

According to Team Astana the final 2009 Tour de France roster will be announced soon.