"After considering the different offers that I have had, I have opted for Astana because it is a completely new project," Contador said today in a statement.

Contador reached an agreement with Johan Bruyneel, who will be the team's new general manager, the statement said. Bruyneel managed Contador at the Discovery Channel team last season.

Astana withdrew from the Tour de France and wasn't invited to the Spanish Vuelta in September after a string of doping scandals. The team sponsor, Zeus Sarl, said last month it will honor its contract with the Kazakh cycling federation through 2010.

Bruyneel, who coached Lance Armstrong to seven straight Tour titles from 1999-2005, had said he was retiring last month after Discovery Channel failed to find a sponsor.

"The project of new Astana is magnificent and I am very happy of being able to have Alberto Contador to lead this team, because he is the rider of the future," Bruyneel said in the statement.

The 25-year-old Contador said he moved to Astana because it could best support his bid for another Tour title.

"My main objective in 2008 will be to ride the Tour de France and to try to confirm the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysées," Contador said.