PRAGUE (AP) — Radomir Simunek, a former cyclocross world champion from Czechoslovakia, died early Tuesday, the Czech cycling federation said in a statement. He was 48.
The Czech federation said he died in Kamenice, near Prague. The cause of the death was not given.
Born on April 8, 1962, in Plzen, Simunek was the world youth champion in the off-road racing discipline in 1980. In 1983 and ’84, he won the world championships of amateur cyclists before claiming the world title among professionals in 1991.
That year, he was voted the best athlete in Czechoslovakia in a poll of sports journalists and was later named the best Czech cyclist of the 20th century.
Simunek is survived by his wife, Jana, and son, Radomir, who is also a cyclocross professional.
