Giuseppe Martinelli has said that it was his own decision to step down from the position of team manager at Astana in order to focus fully on his duties as a directeur sportif.
The change was confirmed at the Astana team presentation in Kazakhstan last week, with Dimitry Fofonov promoted to the role of manager in Martinelli's place.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Martinelli described his change of status as a relief rather than as a demotion, explaining that he had asked general manager Alexandre Vinokourov for a change in his role during the Tour de France.
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"I was too tired, everything at an organisational level touched upon me, from the hotels to relations with the Kazakh federation, which, because of the language, wasn't that easy," said Martinelli, who has been with Astana since 2010.
"I spoke about it with Vinokourov at the Tour, and asked him to please give my role to someone else. I just wanted to be a directeur sportif, without having to occupy myself with all of the bureaucracy. We spoke about it again at the Vuelta and he told me that it would be done."
The Astana riders and staff were informed of the decision at the team's first winter training camp in Montecatini Terme, while the news was made public during the team presentation in the Kazakh capital at the weekend. "For me it changes nothing," Matinelli said. "I just have fewer problems."
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