Vincenzo Nibali will go into his title defence at the Tour de France with the knowledge that he will be surrounded by one of the strongest teams in the race. Today the Astana management announced their 9-rider roster for La Grande Boucle.

Nibali's season has closely followed the same script he used in 2014 and after he won the Italian road race championships he has shown that he is in great form for his title defence. However, he will be strongly rely on his teammates and with three former top 15 finishers in grand tours to support him, he is in a solid position.

Jakob Fuglsang will be the team's lieutenant who will probably be the team's second option in the GC should the team leader falter. Former Giro champion Michele Scarponi will be the second strong asset in the mountains after a solid 2015 season that has seen him ride consistently in several WorldTour stage races.

Tanel Kanget has recovered sufficiently from the Giro to return to the Tour for the second year in a row and will be another key support rider in the mountains. The final climber in the team is Rein Taaramae in his first year with the team.

For the flatter stages, the team management has selected Dutchmen Lars Boom and Lieuwe Westra and Ukraninian Andriy Grivko. All three will be useful in the team time trial while the former two will be of utmost importance on the cobbles.

As useful, the team has also selected a Kazakh rider and like last year Astana's home country will be represented by rouleur Dmitriy Gruzdev.

There was no room for Nibali's trusted domestique for the flat stages Alessandro Vanotti who fell ill just before the Italian championships.

Astana for the Tour de France

Vincenzo Nibali, Lars Boom, Lieuwe Westra, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Andriy Grivko, Jakob Fuglsang, Tanel Kangert, Rein Taaramae and Michele Scarponi