Patsy Villa has been confirmed as the new head of performance at Movistar (open in new tab). The Basque native left Bora Hansgrohe (open in new tab) last month and was reported in the Spanish media as likely to move to Eusebio Unzué's team.

In a statement announcing his arrival released by Movistar on Monday, Villa described his move to the team as something of a homecoming. Villa ran for the team, then called iBanesto.com, for the first two years of 2001 and 2002.

Villa then joined Lampre, where he tested positive for testosterone in 2008 and was suspended for a year and a half. He returned to the peloton with De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia and retired at the end of the 2012 season.

After working for Specialized, Villa joined Tinkoff-Saxo in 2015 as a directeur sportif and began coaching Peter Sagan; he moved to Bora-Hansgrohe with the Slovakian in 2017 but left the team last month. Sagan recently told Cycling News that he was coached by former teammate Sylvester Smyde for the 2019 season.

Villa will help Movistar overcome the loss of Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa and develop Spain's Enric Mas (opens in new tab) as the team's new Grand Tour leader.

"Throughout my career, both sporting and technical, even before I became a professional rider, I have always referred to the Movistar team," Villa said Monday.

"It's my home team and where my idols like Pedro Delgado and Miguel Indurain played. I spent three seasons as a member of Bora Hansgrohe and have been instrumental in the team's sporting success.

Villa is the most recent of the former team riders to join the Movistar staff, which already includes Jose Luis Arrieta, Jose Luis Jaimerena, Cente Garcia Acosta, and Pablo Lastras. 2020 management team last year. Max Chandri, who joined Movistar as a directeur sportif and led Richard Carapas to overall victory at the Giro d'Italia, will also join the team.