Criterium du Dauphiné champion Andrew Talansky goes into the Tour de France as one of the obvious podium contenders and he can start the race knowing that his future is secured. In today's pre-race press conference, he announced that he has signed a two-year contract extension with Garmin-Sharp.

After his win the Criterium du Dauphiné, Andrew Talansky has been one of the hot names on the transfer market and the American has been rumoured to be negotiating with several team. Oleg Tinkov has said that he has been in talks with Talansky who has also been rumoured to be very close to signing a contract with Sky.

In today's Tour de France pre-race press conference, however, Talansky revealed that he has signed a two-year contract extension with his current team Garmin-Sharp.

“This is the first season I was coming up on a year without a contract, and it was nice to see interest from other teams, but when I sat down and looked at my future, where I wanted to go, it made things very simple,” he said.

“It was a very simple decision for me. This is the team that has placed belief in me. This is the team where I started, and why I am here today. I am very happy to call this my home for the next two years.

With his future now secured, Talansky can concentrate on his second Tour de France after having finished 10th in his debut 12 months ago.

“It would be a bit presumptuous to say you’re coming here to win, unless your name is Alberto Contador or Chris Froome,” Talansky said. “We’re coming here to do the best we can, that might be 10th, fifth, or first. We might have to wait until Paris to see.”

Garmin is rumoured to end its sponsorship at the end end of the season but the contract extension indicates that the future of the team has been secured.

“I can’t talk specifics about that,” manager Jonathan Vaughters said. “I can say I wouldn’t sign a contract with Andrew if I didn’t think the situation was in a good place. … More to come, you’re gonna have to wait.

“This is what I say is the start of a long-term project. I’ve had this belief in Andrew for quite awhile, that he can become one of the top grand tour riders in the world."

“This team will be incredible this year, but it’s the first building block so that they can stay on a high level for the next two or three years. That’s why we have so many young riders, so we can build on that going forward, and we can challenge for grand tour podiums. So we are starting that right here and right now, on Saturday.”