It is a terrible loss to the world of TV and cycling that Paul Sherwen has died of heart failure aged just 62.
He was still at an age where his passing can be termed as tragic and no longer will his hammer be put down again. Together with the king of the cycling airwaves, Phil Liggett, they formed a formidable team as good as any other pairing in a broadcast sport. They were like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as they gave theatre to the Tour when it first came to TV screens in the 80s.
Their place in history was fortuitous as they were in the right place to hold together the Channel 4 gamble of covering the Tour when it was still a minority sport. They were the days before live coverage and sadly the rise in the sport was a puncture of ambition for them when the high altitude stages of TV commentating really got into gear.
Together they made stage racing enthralling even when nothing ever happened. A full day in the saddle was unmissable and Stephen Roche used to stick to his hotel room and watch their highlights.
When the truck of ITV came along, Sherwen and Liggett were pushed to overseas duties and their format of commentating graced the nascent audiences like Canada and South Africa.
I liked Sherwin’s style. He stayed in the sport after retiring from being a professional and he was the first to give us the tingle of what it might be like inside the peloton. He may have rested on his background but his voice was always in the leading pack as they sprinted off to the finish line. Sadly for the whole of cycling, that finishing line has come all too quickly.
Les Rowley's world 