Brajkovic, from Slovenia, has extended his contract with the Kazakhstan-registered UCI Pro Tour squad for one year, and will be an effective and powerful rider in pursuit of the team's goals for next season.

"Jani is a serious time trialist and a very strong rider in the mountains, and we are very happy to keep him with us at Astana Pro Team for another season. Next year our ambitions will expand to include an attempt at the top step of the Tour de France, and with Jani we know we have a guy who can help us go there," Team Manager Vinokurov said when explaining the rationale behind the extension on the Astana website.

Brajkovic said his number one objective in 2014 will be to ride for team captain Vincenzo Nibali in the Tour de France in July.

"The Tour de France with Vincenzo is what I most want to do next season, and to help him win will be my main goal for the season. The racing calendar depends very much on what Nibali and the team wants to do to be ready, but I would also like to focus on my own results at one-week stage races like the Tour de Suisse, Tirreno-Adriatico, and the Dauphiné. I would also like very much to lead the team in America at the Tour of California, the Tour of Utah and the one week race in Colorado, and I hope we can get invited to the United States next season," Brajkovic said.