Nicolas Portal, a lead directeur sportif with Team Ineos, has died suddenly of a suspected heart attack at his home. He was aged just 40 years.
The French former rider turned directeur had raced for
many years as a professional and had suffered from a cardiac issue during his racing
days.
He experienced cardiac arrhythmia just over 10 years ago and missed much of the 2009 season before coming back to the bunch the following season.
That 2010 campaign saw him join Team Sky, as it was then, and he raced the full season that year with the team.
When he stopped racing at the end of 2010 he became a very successful directeur with Team Sky, which has since become Team Ineos.
He had taken more and more of a prominent role in the team in recent years having been officially appointed as directeur sportif in 2011.
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He was involved in all of the team's Grand Tour wins apart from Chris Froome's Vuelta victory in 2011 and Bradley Wiggins's Tour de France win in 2012.
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When Froome in 2013 won the first of his four Tour de France titles to date, Portal helped guide him into Paris in yellow despite being the youngest directeur in the WorldTour at the time.
Team Ineos announced news of Nicolas Portal's death in a brief statement on Tuesday evening.
“It is with the greatest sadness that we announce the
passing of our much loved team mate, colleague and friend Nico Portal who died
suddenly this afternoon at his home in Andorra,” it said.
“We are all overcome with grief at this terrible news and
would ask everyone to respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.
“RIP Nico - your spirit will always be with us on the road and you will forever be in our hearts.”
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