Ineos director Portal dies aged 40

Nicolas Portal, Team Ineos’s hugely respected sporting director and the man who helped Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas to their Tour de France wins, has died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 40.

Portal was a former rider, competing with AG2R Prevoyance and Caisse d’epargne from 2002 until 2009, although he missed much of his final season with the Spanish team due to problems with cardiac arrhythmia. The Frenchman joined Team Sky for 2010, retiring at the end of that season.

But it was as a sporting director that Portal really made his name. Following the departure of Sean Yates as part of Team Sky’s purge over historic doping issues, Portal found himself centre stage in the biggest team in the sport.

At the 2013 Tour, he was the youngest sporting director, but guided Froome to overall victory. Portal was present for Froome’s three other wins, as well as Thomas’s victory in 2018 and Egan Bernal’s in 2019.

His youth was a major reason for Sir Dave Brailsford giving him the job as it was felt he represented a break with the sport’s past. Portal had a brilliant tactical brain and was hugely popular within and outside the team, unfailingly polite and friendly even when the team were under pressure. He was married with children.

Team Ineos said in a statement: “We are all overcome with grief at this terrible news and would ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy. RIP Nico – your spirit will always be with us on the road and you will forever be in our hearts.”