KEY POINTS:
Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who has now signed for the disgraced Astana team, will not be guaranteed a starting place in the 2008 race.
Patrice Clerc, the president of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) which oversees the epic competition, said that selection for the Tour de France was based on teams rather than an individual pedigree.
"When we make our selection, we don't pick individual riders but rather the teams," said Clerc.
Astana were forced to withdraw from the 2007 Tour de France after a string of doping scandals.
They also discovered yesterday that they had not made the list of 21 teams for the Tour of Italy starting in May.
