Paul Sherwen

Early life and early career Born on 7 June 1956 in Widnes, Lancashire, England , Sherwen was brought up in Kenya, where his father ran a factory that produced fertiliser, paint and insecticides. He started his sporting life as a swimmer, finishing second in the under-14 Kenyan swimming championship. Upon returning to Britain, he won the regional under-18 championship for Runcorn and District. However, at 16, he turned to cycling and rode for the Weaver Valley CC in Cheshire, receiving guidance from Manchester coach Harold Nelson, and trained regularly with other local riders destined for professional careers, notably Graham Jones, John Herety and Ian Binder.

Cycling career At 19, riding for Altrincham Road Club, he won the season-long Star Trophy series in 1976, winning the Manx International and the Archer Pernod GP and two stages in the Tour of Malago.

A year later, he won Folkestone-London, attacking from the gun. For the French team ACBB (Athletic Club Boulogne Billancourt) he won Paris-Barentin, Paris-Mauberge and the Tour de l'Essone, and was third in the amateur Paris–Roubaix and second in the British championship. He won the Archer Grand Prix cycle race in 1976 and 1977. Despite spending only part of the year in France due to examinations, he came second in the season-long Palme d'Or competition. 1977 saw him ride the world championship in Venezuela, the pro-am Étoile des Espoirs and the Scottish Milk Race. Upon leaving ACBB he was invited to nominate a rider as his successor at the club, becoming the first of a chain of English-speaking riders who graduated to the highest level of the sport via the club, including Irishman Stephen Roche, fellow Britons Robert Millar (now known as Philippa York) and Sean Yates, and Australian Phil Anderson.

He finished 70th in the 1978 Tour de France. In 1980, he came close to being eliminated on the third stage of the Tour. He finished outside the cut-off time (a percentage of the winner’s time), but was reinstated in view of his solo chase after a crash. He then managed the Banana-Raleigh team until Raleigh pulled out at the end of 1989. During this time, he worked as a co-commentator with Phil Liggett for Channel 4's coverage of the Tour de France, with the pair making their debut together on the Tour in 1986. He was also considered for the position of Performance Director at British Cycling in 1997, but lost out to Peter Keen.

Broadcasting career Up until the conclusion of the 2018 Tour de France, Sherwen provided the commentary broadcast internationally for many television networks including Australia's SBS Network, Canada's Outdoor Life Network, and the United States' CBS, ABS, and NBC Sports with Phil Liggett. An obituary in the New York Times referred to him as a "voice of the Tour de France" and detailed some of his on-air antics and his collaboration with Phil Liggett, with whom, he estimated, he spent 150 days per year on the road.

Sherwen died of heart failure on 2 December 2018 at his home in Kampala at the age of 62. He is survived by his wife and their two children.

Career achievements

Major results

1976 1st Archer Grand Prix 1st Premier Calendar 1977 1st Archer Grand Prix 2nd Road race, National Amateur Road Championships 2nd Premier Calendar 3rd GP de France 3rd Paris–Roubaix Espoirs 1980 3rd Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1981 1st Tour du Hainaut Occidentale 1982 1st Stage 1 Tour Méditerranéen 3rd Tour du Haut Var 1983 1st Grand Prix de Denain 2nd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 3 1984 3rd Grand Prix de Wallonie 1986

1987

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish