Obituary- Nicolas Portal 1979-2020

Esteemed Ineos directeur sportif whose legacy will transcend his multiple Grand Tour successes

Cycling was left in mourning last week following the death of popular Team Ineos directeur sportif Nicolas Portal, aged 40. He died of a heart attack at his home in Andorra, on Tuesday morning.

Portal was born in Auch, South-West France, to a quarry manager father and a medical secretary mother. He spent nine years as a pro rider but found his greatest success after turning directeur sportif at Team Sky, where he won the Tour de France six times with three different riders.

Portal first showed his talent for bike racing as a mountain biker, following in the footsteps of his heroes Ned Overend, John Tomac and Rune Høydahl. But in 2001, a mutual friend brought him to the attention of Vincent Lavenu, manager of the Ag2r Prévoyance road team, who took him on as a stagiaire.

Despite struggling to click with road cycling at first, Portal began to understand the tactical niceties of road racing, drawing on the knowledge of the older riders at Ag2r. He would spend four years at the team and take what would be his only professional win in their colours — a stage in the Dauphiné Libéré in 2004.

“He guided Thomas to his first Tour win”