Ineos Grenadiers team boss Dave Brailsford admitted that it would be almost impossible to replace the late Nicholas Portal, his team's talismanic and successful sports director, who died suddenly (open in new tab) of a heart attack in March. and admitted that his Frenchman's successful experience in Grand Tours will be sorely missed.

Portal, who led Team Sky and then Team Ineos (open in new tab) to six of the seven Tour de France (open in new tab) victories, was so popular that he later handed over his position as sports director to former Norwegian professional athlete Gabriel Rasch.

"I didn't ask 'Gabba' to replicate Nico's role. 'He has neither the experience nor the knowledge. It would be foolish to ask him to take Nico's place. So, rather than being similar or the same, we're going to use a more collective approach."

It proved impossible to replace Portal's cunning and experience.

"He was quite unique," Brailsford admitted after a long silence. 'He and I were polar opposites. He was emotional, kind, very creative, and had taste and style. In that sense, it is difficult to try to follow in his footsteps. No one has won as many Grand Tours as he did."

Brailsford also admitted that it took him a long time to accept the shock of losing the portal.

"The last public thing I did before Lockdown was go to his funeral. When I got back into the race again, I found it very hard. How could you lose someone like that and not be affected? It was more about losing him as a friend and someone I was very close to. It was incredibly hard to deal with, to be honest."

"In Nico's case," he continued, "he was young when he started, a novice, everything was new to him, so it took him 10 years to slowly gain experience and gain our trust.

"After all, the last few years we used to discuss tactics and strategy the night before a race, which was a complete delegation of trust and authority. But those people are no longer with us, so now we are back to an inexperienced system in that respect."

Without the portal, Brailsford said the team's strategy and tactics are planned more collectively. He said, "We have a lot of experienced people here and a lot of experience winning Grand Tours. We have to recognize that and deal with it as best we can. We're going to come at it from a different angle."

With Chris Froome spending the last few months with Brailsford and Ineos and Geraint Thomas aiming for the 2020 Giro d'Italia, Brailsford has his team of Grand Tour winners, Bradley Wiggins, Froome, and Thomas, Thomas, Brailsford indicated that his team will be looking for new exciting British talent to follow in the footsteps of Bradley Wiggins, Fluome, and Thomas.

"Our previous team had an academy and we had Mark Cavendish and Geraint. Over the years we raced, competed, and succeeded with that kind of group."

"We had a great deal of success with that kind of group.

"I've seen comments about us turning our backs on British cycling, or "Oh, yeah."

"The talent is not gone. I think what we need is to focus again on the British angle. There are a lot of different riders dotted around in different teams. The signing of Adam Yates is important for us.

"So we need to ask where are we, where is the next talent, what do we need to do, do we need to develop talent, do we need to get back to helping young talent develop?"

Brailsford is pessimistic about the state of the tools this year He states.

Brailsford is pessimistic about the state of the Tour this year, arguing that even if the Tour is forced to cancel due to concerns about the COVID-19 rate, it will not be the "catastrophe" that some have said.

"I don't know if it would be a 'catastrophe.' I don't think [cycling's] economy will go flat and never recover." There is an economic component, but it's not the end of cycling. People are resilient and resourceful. We are not turning a blind eye to it; we are aware of everything that is happening."

"If stopping the race is the right thing to do, we will change, adapt, and make sure the sport survives and builds for the future. That's our approach."

"It's very difficult to run a team that has to be constantly on the move, fueling, shopping, getting in and out of hotels, and being as careful and resourceful as possible. We depend on a lot of people, and it's what people do that makes the difference," Brailsford said.

"I am very sympathetic and supportive of ASO in regards to the (COVID-19) test. It's a big challenge and they work incredibly hard to put on the event. We want to race, but just as much we want to make sure that we are safe and that the society we race in is safe. So we have a joint responsibility."

"However, the UCI will issue a further statement tomorrow (Friday - editorial) on its testing measures, and Brailsford acknowledged that the recent spate of false positive COVID-19 results for riders is a 'concern.

"If the entire race is canceled because of faulty lab readings and everything is cancelled, that's a little bigger issue."