Longtime professional cycling broadcaster Paul Sherwen has died at the age of 62, cycling officials said Sunday.
Sherwen, who rode in the Tour de France seven times during the 1970s and 1980s and was twice British national champion, commentated on the Tour and other events for British, American and Australian television and was considered one of the most authoritative voices in the sport.
We were truly saddened by the news of the passing of @PaulSherwen. A former national champion and a great voice of our sport, our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) December 2, 2018
The cause of Sherwen's death is not yet known.
Sherwen covered 26 Tour de France events as a commentator and was a cycling analyst for NBC at the Olympics in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. He was joined in the booth for many of those events by co-commentator Phil Liggett.
"We are saddened to offer our condolences to the friends and family of Paul Sherwen, who passed away this morning at his home in Uganda," NBC Sports said in a statement released Sunday. "Paul was synonymous with the Tour de France in the U.S. and will be greatly missed by his legions of fans and the NBC Sports family, which was honored to be part of Paul's 40th Tour last July. Our thoughts are with Paul's wife, Katherine, their children and all of those in the cycling community who became Paul Sherwen fans over his many years calling the sport he loved."
Many in the cycling community from around the globe reacted to the sudden news of Sherwen's death, including former champion Lance Armstrong.
Completely shocked and saddened to hear of Paul Sherwen's passing. Met Paul in 1992 when he worked as our press officer for Team Motorola. He was always a class act and a great friend. My deepest condolences go out to his family. RIP Climber.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) December 2, 2018
Information from Reuters was used in this report.