Could Levi Leipheimer and defending champion Alberto Contador be left out of the 2008 Tour de France because of the bad-news legacy of the Astana team?

That’s what French and Spanish media reports are suggesting as the Tour de France organization mulls its invitations for the upcoming edition.

Sources say lingering questions over whether Contador is linked to the Operación Puerto investigation and Astana’s scandalous legacy from 2007 might prompt Tour organizers to leave the team out of the season’s most important race when invitations are announced in the coming weeks.

Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel — who came aboard last fall in an effort to rebuild the Kazakh-sponsored squad in the wake of blood-doping allegations against team stars Alexander Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin — told VeloNews he’s optimistic the team will be among the teams invited to participate

“I’ve said many times, this is a new team. I cannot change what happened in the past but we’re doing a lot to change the future of this team,” Bruyneel said Thursday. “I think we are doing all the right things. I don’t know why we wouldn’t be there.”

Tour de France officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

According to a story in the Spanish daily AS, a renewed investigation into Operación Puerto by Italian authorities is putting the chill on Tour officials’ enthusiasm for an Astana invitation.

Officials from Italy’s anti-doping agency at CONI said earlier this month they were taking a fresh look at the Spanish investigation, a decision that raised questions about whether Italian authorities could or would detain Puerto-linked riders when the Tour dips into Italy this year on July 20 for a stage at Prato Nevoso.

That’s a PR fiasco that Tour officials are keen to avoid following two straight years of disruptions due to doping scandals that saw 2006 winner Floyd Landis dethroned and last year’s expulsion of Vinokourov and race leader Michael Rasmussen, who was fired by Rabobank for lying about his whereabouts in critical pre-Tour testing periods.

Contador, the surprise winner of last year’s scandal-plagued Tour, continues to be dogged by allegations that he’s linked to the blood-doping ring exposed by Spain’s national guard in May 2006. He strongly denies working with Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes while a member of Liberty Seguros, and a Spanish judge has formally cleared him.

That’s not enough for the Italian officials, however, who seem intent on putting the spotlight back on the scandal that brought down top Italian star Ivan Basso but has yet to see any Spanish riders sanctioned.

Some believe that one document confiscated in the Puerto raids indicates that Contador may have worked with Fuentes. Detractors say the initials “AC,” found on a document that allegedly outlines a doping program for several riders on the now-defunct Liberty Seguros team, could refer to Contador, a charge that he denies.

Tour officials, meanwhile, are remaining publicly mum about which teams might be in or out for this year’s race, while insisting it’s their decision who will be allowed to compete. After breaking with the UCI ProTour, the Tour de France will issue its own invitations.

In December, Bruyneel met with Tour officials in December to clear the air about the team’s past and future.

“They told us nothing is guaranteed and that certain criteria needed to be met,” Bruyneel said. “I’ve not received any information from the Tour since then. They have not notified us of anything. In the end, it’s their race. They can invite whom they want. I cannot lose any sleep about what might be the opinion of one journalist.”

Bruyneel insisted that Astana is doing all it can do to change the dynamics of Astana, which was wracked by doping scandals in 2007. In addition to Vinokourov and Kashechkin, just last week, Eddy Mazzoleni, who finished third at the Giro d’Italia, was banned for two years for links to the so-called “Oil for Drugs” scandal in Italy.

Bruyneel said the team is spending 460,000 euros (about $690,000) on internal anti-doping efforts for 2008.

First, the team is spending 300,000 euros on a strict anti-doping testing program organized by Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard. Similar to a program introduced by Team CSC last year, it includes independent, unannounced out-of-competition tests on the team’s riders by Damsgaard’s private team of testers.

The team also is budgeting 120,000 euros to meet the standards of the new so-called “biological passport” being introduced by the UCI, and a further 40,000 euros on a new system to track riders’ whereabouts at all times.

“When you add all that up, that’s a lot of money,” Bruyneel said. “We’re trying to do the right things. It’s a new team. We have a new structure. We have some returning riders from Astana, but the problematic agents aren’t there. This is a new team except in name.”

Whether the Tour de France sees it that way will only be revealed in the coming weeks.