Obituary: Nicolas Portal, 1979 - 2020

A professional racer for nine seasons, Nicolas Portal won the Tour de France six times as a team director

(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Six times a winner of the Tour de France with three different riders, Team Ineos race manager Nicolas Portal died on Tuesday morning as the result of a heart attack. The Frenchman was 40.

Portal was born in Auch, in the Gers department in south-west France, where his father was a quarry manager and his mother a medical secretary. He first showed his talent for bike racing as a mountain biker, following in the footsteps of his racing heroes, Ned Overend, John Tomac and Rune Høydahl. In 2001, he was recommended to Vincent Lavenu, manager of the Ag2r Prévoyance road team, by a mutual friend. “He convinced me to try him out as a stagiaire, and I remember that he did some races with us in Italy and we were astonished with his qualities,” Lavenu told L’Équipe.

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