The former Team Sky man Sean Yates is among four new faces appointed by Tinkoff-Saxo for the 2015 season.
Yates, who was a key figure in Bradley Wiggins’ Tour de France triumph in 2012, left his role as Team Sky’s lead sports director in October of that year, citing health grounds. Both he and the British team denied reports suggesting Yates had departed due to Sky’s zero-tolerance policy over doping.
Tinkoff-Saxo announced on Monday that Yates and Patxi Vila are joining their team of sports directors. Bobby Julich arrives as head coach and Daniel Healey takes the position of head of sports science.
Julich is another who used to work for Team Sky, the American standing down from his role as their race coach just three days after Yates’ exit.
Julich admitted to having taken a banned substance in the late 1990s during his racing career but Sky said at the time of Yates’ departure: “Sean has been interviewed and there were no admissions or disclosures that would have required him to leave.”
The Tinkoff-Saxo team manager, Bjarne Riis, said on Monday: “[I am] happy to have Julich, Healey, Yates and Vila in the team. They are incredibly capable professionals and I consider them an asset for any team as they come with tremendous motivation and great experience.”
Yates said: “[It is] an honour to be asked by Bjarne to join Tinkoff-Saxo. It is probably the only team I would work with right now and when the opportunity came along, it was too good to turn down.
“Nevertheless, becoming the world’s best team will not be an easy task. It will require a lot of hard work, a lot of planning and a lot of communication by everybody involved. It’s going to be challenging but I like challenges.”
