Flying Forehead heading to Liberty Seguros

Vinokourov to Liberty Seguros; Discovery's missed this one!

BBC SPORT | Vinokourov joins Liberty Seguros

Alexandre Vinokourov, whose aggressive riding animated the 2005 Tour, will join Manolo Saiz' Liberty Seguros squad.

The team's previous Tour leader, Roberto Heras, had a disappointing Tour in 45th, and Saiz said publicly during the Tour that Heras would ride Giro and not lead the team's Tour squad next season.

Vinokourov will bring along a fellow Kazakh, Sergey Yakovlev, from T-Mobile.

Said Vino:

"They have the best riders in the mountains and are among the best in the team time trials. It was almost a natural choice," he said of Liberty Seguros.

"We have discussed my programme for 2006 - I've had the guarantee I will be able to fully focus on the Tour de France."