Astana is sending Leipheimer, Brajkovic, and Popovych to the Tour of Missouri

Astana is sending Tour of California champ Levi Leipheimer to the Tour of Missouri next month, in what will be Leipheimer’s first race sine he broke his wrist during the Tour de France.

Joining Leipheimer on the team will be 2007 Tour de Georgia winner Janez Brajkovic and Yaroslav Popovych, a Tour of Italy podium finisher and stage winner at the Tour de Georgia.

“I’m still recovering from my broken wrist,” Leipheimer said. “But anytime I have the opportunity to line-up for a race of this caliber in my own country, I’m going to make my best effort to participate.”

“Since I haven’t raced in over a month, it’s hard to give an assessment of my form, but I know our entire team is very excited and motivated for this race.”

Leipheimer raced in the first Tour of Missouri in 2007 as part of the Discovery Channel team.

“I’m also looking forward to seeing how the race has grown since my last participation,” he said.

Viatcheslav Ekimov will direct the team at Missouri.

Astana for the Tour of Missouri:

• Levi Leipheimer
• Janez Brajkovic
• Steve Morabito
• Andrey Zeits
• Sergey Renev
• Gregory Rast
• Dmitri Muravyev
• Yaroslav Popovych

The race begins in St. Louis on Monday, September 7, and concludes with a hilly circuit through the streets of Kansas City, on Sunday, September 13.