Astana have selected a formidable team to support leader Fabio Aru in his Tour de France debut. As expected, he will be joined by Vincenzo Nibali to form a very dangerous two-pronged attack for the Kazakh team in the world's biggest race.

There were no surprises when Astana announced their line-up for the Tour de France and the team will gather a formidable group of climbers for one of their key objectives for the season.

In his debut at the race, Fabio Aru will lead the team and he will target a podium a spot. All year, the race has been his big goal and he has gradually built his form. Despite not being at his best, the Vuelta winner got a stage win at the recent Criterium du Dauphiné and has since been training at altitude.

Aru will be joined by Vincenzo Nibali who goes into the race as a team joker on the back of his Giro d'Italia win. The team is adamant that Aru is the leader and that Nibali is mainly in the race to prepare for the Olympics but they have not ruled out that he will go for GC.

Aru will be able to rely on his core group of climbers that includes veteran Paolo Tiralongo and talent Diego Rosa who finished in the the top 10 at the Dauphiné. Tanel Kangert and Jakob Fuglsang have been brought in from the Giro team to add more firepower in the mountains.

Luis Leon Sanchez and Alexey Lutsenko will provide crucial support in the medium mountains, with the latter being the only Kazakh rider in the team. Andriy Grivko will shepherd Aru through the flat stages.

Last year the team left the race with a stage win and a fourth place for Nibali.

Astana for the Tour de France

Fabio Aru (ITA)
Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)
Jacob Fuglsang (DNK)
Tanel Kangert (EST)
Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ)
Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP)
Diego Rosa (ITA)
Andriy Grivko (UKR)
Paolo Tiralongo (ITA)