Team Sky DS Nicolas Portal slams cuts to team sizes for 2018
French director believes the move will be counter-productive

Over several months spent researching a book on tactics within pro racing, one issue that has come up again and again when discussing this subject has been the UCI’s decision to cut the teams next season from nine riders to eight in the Grand Tours and from eight to seven in the Classics.
Having spoken to dozens of riders and team managers, I’ve yet to come across one in favour of this move, which the UCI and the organisers of these races insist is designed to increase safety for riders and reduce the control that any one team can have on a race.
>>> Aqua Blue Sport’s new team bike unveiled for 2018, and it’s only got one chainring
Most directors and riders insist that the move won’t make much difference on security and will have none at all with regard to lessening the grip of, for instance, Team Sky on the Tour de France or Quick-Step on the northern Classics.
Many also warned that the initiative would result in some riders losing their jobs as teams would cut their rosters, a move that has already been apparent at several WorldTour teams.
Team Sky sporting director Nicolas Portal voiced the concern and scepticism of many on the competitive rather than the administrative/organisational side of the sport, suggesting, “You need to have some facts to back up a decision like that [to cut teams to eight riders].
A lot of the big thinkers in cycling have talked about doing this but have no evidence to back up what they’re saying.
“I think the fact that the race organisers are saying that it will make racing more exciting only underlines the fact that they don’t understand racing and highlights the gap between them and the teams,” said the Frenchman.
Portal highlighted the fact that Sky’s recent domination of the Tour de France hasn’t depended on them having nine riders. “In 2013, Sky finished the race with six-and-a-half bike riders.
"Geraint Thomas crashed right near the start of the race and rode the Tour with a fractured pelvis, and wasn’t able to do much until the last week.
“We lost Vasili Kiryienka halfway through and Edvald Boasson Hagen at the end of the second week, but we still won the race despite a really strong Quintana and Valverde, and I should add that David López wasn’t in his best shape at that Tour either.
The year before we lost Kanstantsin Siutsou on the third stage and won the race with eight. So you can win the Tour with eight guys or even less, and despite other teams having nine.”
Watch: Tour de France 2018 route guide
Indeed, Portal believes that the initiative could be counter-productive.
“Riding with eight will, I think, reduce the spectacle, because lots of riders are going to get more fatigued and teams are likely to race more conservatively with fewer cards to play.
With one card less, you control more and attack less. You try to keep things tight. You need to be absolutely sure about playing your cards, about having your riders commit to attacks,” said Portal.
The Sky DS believes that a better way to encourage more open racing is to continue the move towards having some shorter stages in the major races. “It doesn’t matter if they’re flat or in the mountains, those stages are so hard to control, and having nine guys to put on the front doesn’t make any difference,” said Portal.
“You’re talking about a stage that’s three hours long if it’s a tough one through the mountains or perhaps two-and-a-half if it’s on the flat, and on stages of that length all bike riders can maintain their highest level for three hours. They’re all really good over that kind of distance.
"Consequently, those stages will be full gas all day. Even a flat stage of that length is very difficult to control, and I don’t think it would end up in a bunch sprint. I know the sprinters’ teams would want to control things, but I don’t think they would be able to.”
Portal pointed to the Foix stage of this year’s Tour and the final day of the Critérium du Dauphiné six weeks earlier as offering a template for the kind of racing everyone would like to see. Both were short at around 100km.
“We knew that day at the Dauphiné that we wouldn’t be able to use the strength of the full team, that we would have to rely on just three or four guys in terms of implementing a strategy,” Portal emphasised.
“I think they need to find a nice balance between stages of around 100k and the rest that are a bit longer.”
In a final dig at the cuts, Portal questioned whether they would be economically good for the sport.
“What’s going to happen to the extra rider who’d dropped from those races? Will teams drop them completely and cut back their rosters?” he asked. It already appears that the answer to that is yes.
Yet, with new UCI president David Lappartient recently suggesting that he would consider reducing teams to just six riders at these races, this issue looks set to run for some time yet.
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Peter Cossins has been writing about professional cycling since 1993, with his reporting appearing in numerous publications and websites including Cycling Weekly, Cycle Sport and Procycling - which he edited from 2006 to 2009. Peter is the author of several books on cycling - The Monuments, his history of cycling's five greatest one-day Classic races, was published in 2014, followed in 2015 by Alpe d’Huez, an appraisal of cycling’s greatest climb. Yellow Jersey - his celebration of the iconic Tour de France winner's jersey won the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards Cycling Book of the Year Award.
-
-
Geraint Thomas 'helps a brother out', aiding Mark Cavendish's valedictory Giro d'Italia stage win
Cavendish now has one final Giro stage win. Will he get one final Tour de France equivalent in July?
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Charlotte Kool wins final stage of RideLondon-Classique to seal overall victory
Kool edges out Dyget and Van der Duin in bunch sprint
By Stephen Puddicombe • Published
-
From drawing to Giro d'Italia in 2 months: How SunGod reinvented Geraint Thomas' iconic sunglasses
The glasses, GTs, have been seen on the Welshman's face throughout his impressive Giro d'Italia run
By Adam Becket • Published
-
21 things you didn't know about Tom Pidcock
According to the man himself, he's never had a hangover. It's alright for some.
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
Tao Geoghegan Hart abandons Giro d'Italia after fracturing hip on stage 11
Ineos Grenadiers rider was sitting in third before falling heavily with 69km to go on Wednesday
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Blow to Ineos's Giro d'Italia as Filippo Ganna forced out with Covid-19
Time-triallist and super-domestique Filippo Ganna has had to leave his home Grand Tour due to a Covid-19 positive
By Jack Elton-Walters • Published
-
Complete Giro d'Italia 2023 start list: Who is still in the Grand Tour three days in?
There has not been one abandonment so far in this year's Giro, here's the complete start list
By Adam Becket • Last updated
-
Tao Geoghegan Hart ready for Giro d'Italia after sealing Tour of the Alps victory in Italy
British rider says he will savour his second-ever overall win, before turning his attention towards the fast approaching Italian Grand Tour
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
‘Just stay calm and relaxed’: Tao Geoghegan Hart one day from second-ever overall victory
Barring major disaster, the Ineos Grenadiers rider will wrap up overall victory at the Tour of the Alps in Brunico on Friday
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
‘I’m not going there as a favourite’ - Tao Geoghegan Hart plays down Giro d’Italia chances despite success
The British rider is two days away from winning the Tour of the Alps, but said he would be just one of many 'pieces in the puzzle' at the Giro
By Tom Thewlis • Published