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Sports journalist who served sister titles dies aged 48

Richard Moore 2022A sports journalist who wrote for two sister titles for 20 years has died aged 48.

Tributes have been paid to Richard Moore, who was a regular contributor to The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday for two decades.

Richard had been a professional cyclist who represented both Great Britain and Scotland, most memorably at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, before moving into journalism.

He also wrote for titles including Cycling Weekly, The Guardian, the Sunday Times and Glasgow-based daily the Herald.

Long-serving Scotsman sportswriter and good friend Alan Pattullo told the Edinburgh-based daily: “He delivered what I consider to be one of the best British sports books of this century when he wrote In Search of Robert Millar, but he was so much more than simply a cycling writer.

“His last column for Scotland on Sunday, in April last year, was inspired by the 25th anniversary of the events chronicled in Joe McGinness’ book Miracle of Castel di Sangro, about an Italian village [football] team getting promotion to Serie B.

“He also wrote a column for The Scotsman – Richard Moore’s Sports Almanac – that pulled out lesser known, but nevertheless interesting stories, for readers to ponder ahead of the coming week. He was always on hand to turn round copy quickly and he could be relied upon to do so immaculately.

“He made many, many friends in journalism and crucially, was loved and respected by sportspeople too, in cycling in particular. On a personal level, he was my best friend and I am shattered.”

Richard also worked with Sir Chris Hoy, who was a teammate of his for Scotland, on the record-breaking Olympian’s autobiography.

Sir Chris said: “Absolutely devastated to hear the awful news that Richard Moore has passed away. Can’t quite believe it.

“An incredible person who touched so many lives. Wish I’d told him just how much I thought of him before he went.”

In recent years, Richard was based in France with his young family and had devoted more time to The Cycling Podcast, which he had run since 2013.

His cause of death has not yet been revealed.