Ex-pros Sean Yates and Bobby Julich are heading major backroom staff changes at Tinkoff-Saxo next season. According to L’Equipe, the two men replace long term sporting directors Fabrizio Guidi and Philippe Maduit, who have been part of the squad since 2011.

While the changes are yet to be confirmed by Tinkoff-Saxo or team owner Oleg Tinkov, it is highly likely that this is another show of Tinkov’s power.

Speaking to French newspaper La Nouvelle Republique, Mauduit said he saw the writing on the wall earlier this season that he was not bonding with the outspoken Russian owner.

“Tinkov bought the team in 2013, and I saw very quickly we didn’t share the same ways of working, or the same values, and it was true that our collaboration was difficult,” Mauduit said. “But he is the boss, and he has the money, and he does what he wants with the team, the strategy, and his communication. He’s the one who decides, and I respect that.”

Guidi joined then team owner Bjarne Riis after finishing his pro career with the team in 2011 and Mauduit joined after stints at various French squads and Cervelo.

Yates and Julich both worked with CSC, a previous incarnation of the team, Yates as a sports director and Julich as a rider. Both men joined Team Sky but had to leave in 2012 along with current Tinkoff-Saxo DS Steven de Jongh, with the latter two leaving due to using performance enhancing drugs as pros and thus not meeting Team Sky’s zero-tolerance policy to doping and Yates left citing personal problems.

De Jongh arrived at Tinkoff-Saxo in 2013 and quickly eclipsed Mauduit as the teams leading sports director, a position he cemented by guiding Alberto Contador to victory in the 2014 Vuelta a Espana.