Colombian cyclist Marlon Alirio Pérez, a youth champion in the points race at the 1994 World Championships in Ecuador, died in a hospital in Antioquia after being the victim of an armed robbery in which he was stabbed multiple times in the neck, official sources reported on Friday.

“The Colombian Police and the Prosecutor’s Office have taken charge of the investigation to swiftly clarify the murder of Marlón Pérez, a sporting icon of Antioquia,” said the governor of Antioquia, Andrés Julián Rendón, on his X account.

Rendón added that Pérez, 48, who was born in the town of Támesis, “was found on a public road in Carmen de Viboral with a stab wound. I deeply regret this news and send sincere condolences to his family.”

The Colombian Cycling Federation also lamented the incident and stated in a communiqué that Pérez, “a prominent cyclist and former world champion on the track and in paracycling, tragically lost his life in a violent incident during a robbery attempt on Thursday night.”

After making his mark in Colombian cycling, Pérez joined Selle Italia and later became part of Team Tenax (2006), Universal Caffé (2007), and Caisse d’Epargne (2008-2009).

The cyclist from Antioquia was world champion in the points race in 1994, world champion in tandem paracycling as a guide for Javier Serna in 2017, and Pan American time trial champion at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara.

He was also a three-time national time trial champion, won six stages of the Vuelta a Colombia, and represented Colombia in three Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, and Athens 2004) and one Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020).

Pérez also won five stages in the Clásico RCN and three in the Vuelta al Táchira (Venezuela). He participated in the Giro d'Italia in 2004, 2005, and 2008.

Pérez is also remembered for helping several Colombian riders join European teams. One of them was Rigoberto Urán, who joined Tenax in Italy in 2006, marking the beginning of his career in elite cycling, where he achieved two second-place finishes in the Giro d’Italia in 2013 and 2014, as well as another second place in the Tour de France in 2017.