Homo erectus (meaning 'upright man') were a species of archaic humans from the Pleistocene, earliest occurrence about 2 mya They are proposed to be the direct ancestors to several human species, such as H. heidelbergensis, H. antecessor, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans.

Modern man is nothing but homo sapiens so there are also theory stating that neanderthals are not the direct ancestor of homo sapiens but somewhat related to modern man.

Australopithecus anamensis, A. afarensis, and A. africanus are among the most famous of the extinct hominins. A. africanus was once considered to be ancestral to the genus Homo (in particular Homo erectus).

Fossil found is of idaltu man.

SO, the right answer would be homo erectus to be the director ancestor of homo sapiens.