Richard Moore obituary

Richard Moore, who has died suddenly aged 48, was an international bike racer and writer who enhanced the sports media landscape with the foundation of the Cycling Podcast, created with his fellow journalists Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie in 2013.

The Cycling Podcast was born when Moore and Birnie were looking for work at the 2013 Tour de France, having lost a magazine writing gig shortly before it started. Offering a daily bulletin from the race, their deep knowledge, passion for the sport and contrasting presenting styles – the erudite Birnie, Friebe more intense, Moore the laid-back anchorman – made the podcast an instant hit with cycling fans.

The trio had struck at the perfect moment: those were halcyon days for the sport in the UK after the magic season of 2012 when London had hosted the Olympic Games and Sir Bradley Wiggins had won the Tour de France, Chris Froome was set fair for four Tour wins in five years, and Yorkshire was about to host one of the most dramatic and popular Grands Départs the Tour de France has ever seen.

By 2015, listener numbers had reached 30,000 and in 2018 the podcast received a bronze medal in the sport category of the British Podcast Awards. Birnie, Friebe and Moore turned it into a cottage industry in its own right, producing offshoots on women’s racing – the Cycling Podcast Féminin, which also won a bronze at the British Podcast Awards – gravel racing, bike tech and on the stories behind and around the Tour de France.

They also branched out to cover the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, and there were popular stage shows as the three went on tour around the UK and Ireland; in addition there were books, mugs and tea towels. The show has had 48.4 million listens since its