Menchov leads Katusha

The Russian outfit, headed by sporting directors Valerio Piva, Dmitry Konyshev and Torsten Schmidt, named a nine-man team of Giampaolo Caruso, Oscar Freire, Vladimir Gusev, Joan Horrach, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Denis Menchov, Luca Paolini, Yuriy Trofimov and Eduard Vorganov.

In a statement, Katusha specified that Freire would be the lead sprinter with Menchov the man for the general classification.

"It's a huge responsibility that gives me high motivation," Menchov said. "It will be my first big stage race with the team of my country, so I'll give my best in order to win.

"Moreover, this is the only Grand Tour I am yet to win - it's not a secret that this year it was my main goal, and it would be the crowning achievement of my career."

This season’s Tour de France starts on June 30 in the Belgian city of Liege.