Simone Ponzi and Borut Bozic will lead Astana’s two-fisted strike force in Sunday at the GP Ouest France, with both of the sprinter best suited to the hard circuit race around the Morbihan department of Brittany in cycling-mad northwest France.

According to Astana Sports Director Dmitriy Fofonov the 27km laps around the 2001 World Championship course will present a stiff challenge for the team.

"Plouay is a very popular and exciting race, with 100,000 spectators for nine laps of racing,” Fofonov told the Astana website. “Last year they added a new climb, and this year there are some more changes that will solve old problems and probably create new ones for the peloton. As hard as it is, the distance will create a natural selection and we will likely see a group of maybe 40 riders for the finish," Fofonov said.

"Bozic and Ponzi are both in very good form right now, and they give us the option of two sprinters at the end. We also have Gasparotto and Gavazzi who can attack in the final circuits to disrupt any sprint teams, and it's especially good to have Kessiakoff back with us in his first race since a very unlucky crash at the Tour de France. Additionally we have Lutsenko, who has made a full recovery as well from his first Tour de France outing, and has shown he can race well at this level," Fofonov added.

Astana Pro Team line-up for GP Ouest France:

Borut Bozic, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Enrico Gasparotto, Francesco Gavazzi, Valerio Agnoli,

Alexey Lutsenko and Simone Ponzi.