Having been a sports director on the team right from the beginning, Marcus Ljungqvist has decided to leave Team Sky to be closer to his family. He will be replaced by former Saxo-Tinkoff sports director Dan Frost who will bring 8 years of experience to the British team.

In next year's Tour de France, Team Sky will have insight into how Team Tinkoff-Saxo operate when Chris Froome tries to defend his title against Alberto Contador. Today the team has announced that Dan Frost has been hired as a sports director for the coming season.

The Dane is a former points race world champion and Olympic gold medalist and has been working as a sports director at Oleg Tinkov's new team in recent years. Due to the economic uncertainty that followed from Tinkov's decision to end his sponsorship, both he and Tristan Hoffman were let go by the team.

While Hoffman was later reinstated, there was no room for Frost. However, the Dane attended the Team Sky gathering last week and has now been offered a job at the British team that has always had plenty of Scandinavians in their staff.

“I’m excited to get started in January," he said. "Whether you are a sports director or a rider you always want to get going with the racing.

“The detail and preparation of the team is evident and everyone has been extremely welcoming. It is nice to be received with open arms and hopefully together we can achieve lots of success.

“Joining the team will be a new experience. I know a few of the riders and staff, plus of course I have seen everyone first-hand at the races and understand their skills. There is plenty for me to learn here but I am excited to get the season under way.”

Frost will replace Marcus Ljungqvist who was part of the inaugural team of sports directors when the team was founded in 2010. After four years on the team, the Swede wants to have more time for his family.

“After almost 20 years on the road hopefully I can now spend more time at home with my family. That is my main aim at the moment,” he said.

“I will miss working with the team and I’m leaving such a great group of people. Becoming a Sports Director and joining Team Sky was a big challenge. But having the chance to be there from the very beginning, and then for the team to go on and be successful and win the Tour de France twice, is something I will take with me."

Recently, it has been revealed that a Giro d'Italia start in Sweden may be on the cards in the future. Ljungqvist hopes to get the chance to welcome his former team in his home country.

“I hope one day to see the team kick off the Giro d’Italia or the Tour de France up here in Sweden in the area I live in," he said. "That would be great for me and it would be great for Sweden.”

Performance manager Rod Ellingworth was delighted to have Frost on board.

“We’re excited to have Dan Frost join the team heading into 2014," he said. "He wants to take on a new challenge in what is still a relatively new team.

“We welcome his insight and everything he’s learned over the last eight years as a Sports Director. He was a phenomenal track rider back in his day and that means he’s also close to the methodology from British Cycling. We’re all keen to get started.

“Marcus has done a great job during his time with Team Sky. He came in from the outset and helped us build this team.

“We all enjoyed some great moments together and I hope that he can take a lot of what he’s learned here into whatever he does next. He will certainly be missed by everyone at the team and we’d all like to thank Marcus for his hard work and wish him all the best in the future.”