Former Team Sky director Sean Yates has been tapped by Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso to take a leadership role on the Eolo Comenta team as they step up to the pros.

Yates worked with both former players as a directeur at Tinkoff Saxo in 2015 and 2016 and will join the team, part of the Contador Foundation, before the 2021 season.

While Contador, a seven-time Grand Tour winner, will run the entire foundation, former Giro d'Italia winner Basso is the team's sports manager and currently works as Kometa-Xstra in the Continental third division.

Yates, 60, joins after a brief four-month stint at Nippo-Delco-One-Provence, his first job in the pro peloton since Tinkoff.

"I am very excited about this new adventure. Everything happened so fast. A few weeks ago, Ivan called me and asked me what was going on. I told him I had just left Delco and was thinking about my next step. Ivan immediately made me an offer, which I accepted. It was too good an opportunity to turn down," Yates said. [I've known Ivan since 2004, when he was a CSC rider and I was the sport director. Since then I've worked with him at Discovery Channel, Tinkoff Saxo, and Tinkoff. Since Tinkoff ceased to exist, we have talked several times about working together again, but for a variety of reasons it has been difficult to make it happen. I have worked with [Ivan, Alberto, and Jesus [Hernandez] before and have a great relationship with all of them. Friendship is always a big plus in a good working environment," Yates said.

The nonprofit Contador Foundation, founded by the former Spanish national team member in 2015, aims to raise stroke awareness and promote cycling and cycling in general, and the cycling team was established after his retirement in 2017. In addition to the Continental team, the foundation also runs a junior and under-23 program, and Juan Pedro Lopez has graduated from all three and now competes on the World Tour with Trek-Segafredo.

This summer it was announced that with Eolo's new sponsorship, the main team will become a second division professional team registered in Italy starting in 2021. This step up will result in a revamped roster and race calendar that will allow the team to compete for invitations to the world's big races.

"There will be intense days ahead to shape the team. The team will improve and the range of races the riders will compete in will increase. We will be competing in big races with the top riders. It's definitely a big step," Yates said. [We are not thinking at this point about winning the overall in races like the Giro, Vuelta, or Tour de France. This is an initial three-year project and we can develop in a controlled but progressive way and grow every day to become a bigger and better team"

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After a 14-year career as a rider, Yates served as director sportif for iTeamNova, CSC, Discovery Channel, and Astana, starting with Linda McCartney, although he joined Team Sky in its first year in 2010, Despite helping Bradley Wiggins win the Tour de France, he left the team at the end of 2012.

Yates worked for the British NFTO in 2014 before returning to the World Tour with Tinkoff-Saxo in 2015 and 2016. He then left the pro peloton for three and a half years to focus on his own coaching business.

"I am the new face of the team and I want to get to know the existing members better, who I don't know yet. We also plan to bring new riders to the team to complete the roster for 2021," Yates added.

"We already have a lot of young riders here who will no doubt shine in the future, and in 2021, while they may gain experience, we also need more experienced riders who can make our competitiveness more solid going into the race. Experience is always important. For many of the younger guys it will be a very big step, but I am sure it will be very good for them. Another interesting thing for me is the development of an exciting racing program, which will include World Tour races."