ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will join Team Astana for his return to competitive cycling, Kazakh business officials told The Associated Press today.

Armstrong will make the announcement at a news conference in New York later today, several businessmen with ties to the Kazakhstan-based cycling team told AP. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn't want to pre-empt the formal announcement.

Officials with Team Astana could not be immediately reached for comment.

Nikolai Proskurin, deputy head of Kazakhstan's Cycling Federation, confirmed Armstrong would be making an announcement with Team Astana but refused to comment further.

Astana team leader Johan Bruyneel earlier this month said he said he was in discussions with Armstrong. Bruyneel was Armstrong's team director for all of his Tour de France victories, and the two are close friends.

Meanwhile, Australian officials said Wednesday that Armstrong would begin his comeback in the Tour Down Under in January.

Armstrong announced on Sept. 9 that he would return to cycling after three years in retirement and would attempt to win the Tour de France an eighth time.

The deal is a coup for the Kazakh team, which was thrown out of last year's Tour de France after Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for a blood transfusion.

There were reports in Madrid on Tuesday that 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain would leave if Armstrong joined Astana.

"I've earned the right to be the leader of a team without having to fight for my place," Contador said in AS newspaper. "And with Armstrong, some difficult situations could arise in which the team would put him first and that would hurt me."

Contador won the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday. Combined with his 2008 Giro d'Italia title, he became just the fifth cyclist to win the three highest-regarded Tours.

"My intention is to stay (at Astana) because I have a contract until 2010, but I have already received a good number of offers from other teams," he said.