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Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist) facts for kids

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Frank Vandenbroucke
Vandenbroucke at the 2002 Paris–Tours
Personal information
Full name Frank Vandenbroucke
Nickname VDB
Born (1974-11-06)6 November 1974
Mouscron, Belgium
Died 12 October 2009(2009-10-12) (aged 34)
Saly, Senegal
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 64 kg (141 lb; 10 st 1 lb)
Team information
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Rouleur
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
Points classification (1999)
2 individual stages (1999)

Stage races

Paris–Nice (1998)

One-day races and Classics

Liège–Bastogne–Liège (1999)
Gent–Wevelgem (1998)
GP Ouest-France (1996)
Omloop Het Volk (1999)
Scheldeprijs (1996)

Frank Vandenbroucke (6 November 1974 – 12 October 2009) was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. After showing promise in track and field in his adolescence, Vandenbroucke took to cycle racing in the late 1980s and developed into one of the great hopes for Belgian cycling in the 1990s, with a string of victories that included Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Grand Tour stages and Omloop Het Volk. Despite repeated attempts to continue his career with a string of different teams from 2000 to 2008, Vandenbroucke's unpredictability eventually led to his estrangement from the cycling world. Although Vandenbroucke claimed in an interview in 2009 to have recovered his mental health, he died of a pulmonary embolism in October 2009 at the age of 34.

Background

Frank Vandenbroucke was born in Mouscron and grew up in Ploegsteert, a village in the French-speaking region of Belgium (with facilities for Dutch speakers). In 1978, when he was four and cycling in the village square, he was knocked over by the driver of a rally car. His mother said her son didn't cry until doctors cut his cycling shorts. The collision led to four operations on his right knee and repeated problems later in life.

Vandenbroucke first tried athletics, joining the Entente Athlétique Hainaut. In 1986 he became a regional schoolboy champion. He took out a cycling licence with the club in 1989 and won a race at Brakel. An unnamed acquaintance told the Belgian journalist Philippe van Holle:

"It must have been when I was about 19 or 20 and went out training with a friend on the Belgian borders. As we spun along, out of nowhere this skinny blond kid was on our back wheel. He looked about 14. He was still there 15 minutes later, so we picked up speed. He just sat there, so we picked up the pace again. It was still no problem for him. I looked over my shoulder and he gave me a half-mocking, half-friendly grin. In the end, we went as hard as we could to try to get rid of him and teach the little brat a lesson, because by now he was getting a bit too cocky for our tastes. But whatever we did, he still hung on. After about an hour, we came into a village called Ploegsteert, at which point he came alongside with real arrogance and said 'OK, I'm back home now, so 'bye. By the way, I'm Frank Vandenbroucke.' Neither of us had ever met a kid like him."

In 1991, when he was 17, Vandenbroucke won the national beginners [débutant] road championship at Halanzy. He came third in the world junior road championship in Athens in 1992.

Career

Vandenbroucke turned professional in 1993 with the Belgian team, Lotto. The directeur sportif was his uncle, Jean-Luc. He won 51 races in the next six years, including the 1999 Liège–Bastogne–Liège. From 2000 he made the sports pages more for failed comebacks, depression and marital problems.

Vandenbroucke left Lotto in the middle of 1995 to join Mapei–GB–Latexco. There he became a team-mate of Johan Museeuw. The manager was Patrick Lefevere. In 1997, the team picked him as part of their squad for the Tour de France. In what would be his first of just two Tour de France entries, Vandenbroucke came close to winning a stage twice. On stage 3, he led the peloton up a steep sprint finish, but was overtaken by Erik Zabel right before the line. He was second again on stage 16, this time unable to match the sprint of Christophe Mengin. In 1998 he won Gent–Wevelgem, two stages and the overall competition of Paris–Nice, and two stages of the Tour de Wallonie. It would be his final season at Mapei–Bricobi.

In 1999 he transferred to the French team Cofidis where, at only 24, he had the best year of his career. He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Omloop Het Volk, and stages in Paris–Nice and the Vuelta a España. His win in Liège–Bastogne–Liège was all the more impressive because he had said in television interviews prior to the race where and when he would attack, stating he would make his first move on Cote de la Redoute, and even going as far as giving the number of the house in front of which he would launch his second attack on the climb of Saint-Nicolas.

It was, however, his last year of major victories. The British magazine Procycling said:

"Three years on a contract worth 30 million Belgian francs (£460,000) was a deal beyond VDB's wildest dreams. He never suspected that having all that money in his pocket would set off a terrible downward spiral. He won Het Volk and Liège–Bastogne–Liège before sinking into a doping controversy that was never satisfactorily explained (see below) – even though VDB was cleared by the courts. The team suspended him while the allegations were investigated and relations with their star rider never recovered. When he came back, he showed well in the '99 Vuelta before, remarkably, managing to finish in the front group of the world championship despite fracturing both hands en route. Contractually obliged to stay with Cofidis, VDB had a poor 2000 season. By this point, people in cycling were talking more about VDB's nights out than his riding."

At Cofidis he shared leadership with David Millar. His "non-communication" with Millar was publicised and criticised.

In 2001 he moved to the Italian team, Lampre–Daikin, then to the Belgian team, Domo–Farm Frites, the following year, rejoining Lefevère and Museeuw. Vandenbroucke stayed with Lefevère when he started the Quick-Step–Davitamon team in 2003 and he came second to Peter van Petegem in the Tour of Flanders. Vandenbroucke said he was happy with his performance, that he had attacked van Petegem on the last climbs because he knew van Petegem would beat him in the sprint, but Lefevère criticised him for lack of effort and Vandenbroucke left the team.

In 2004 he joined the Italian team, Fassa Bortolo, under Giancarlo Ferretti. He asked not to be paid unless he won. He had a largely empty season and was fired. Vandenbroucke joined Mr Bookmaker for 2005. He missed so many races that the team director, Hilaire Van der Schueren, demanded Vandenbroucke demonstrate that he was still a racing cyclist.

Frank Vandenbroucke frankyboy
Vandenbroucke, riding for Acqua & Sapone in 2006

In two seasons at the team, he managed just one minor result, ninth on the time trial of the 2006 Three Days of de Panne. Eventually, he was sacked for not staying in touch. In 2008, he signed with Mitsubishi, where he was suspended.

On 4 April 2009 he won a stage in the French race La Boucle de l'Artois, on a 15 km time trial, his first win in a UCI-race since 1999.

Vandenbroucke said in 2004: "I've never done anything to make myself popular. In fact, the opposite. Sometimes I think it's all a dream. I've thrown up a marriage, I've been on bad terms with my parents for a long time, all of which has troubled and exhausted me." He said he had disappointed sponsors, managers and directeurs sportifs, even though they continued to show confidence in him. "I had become schizophrenic", he said. Without psychiatric help, he would "have followed the same path as Pantani", the Italian rider found dead on a hotel floor. After 450,000 French francs a month at Cofidis, he earned 220,000 at Lampre in 2001 and then half that at Fasso Bortolo.

Family problems

Vandenbroucke had a daughter (Cameron) with his partner Clotilde Menu in February 1999, but the couple never were married and soon separated. The following year, Vandenbroucke wed Sarah Pinacci, a former model and hostess with the Italian team, Saeco. They lived at Lebbeke, near Brussels.

Vandenbroucke and Pinacci had a turbulent relationship, and it was said in the media that they could not live together and they could not live apart – forming what those close to them called "a diabolical couple". In December 2001, they had a daughter (Margaux).

Vandenbroucke and Pinacci eventually divorced, and the Belgian struggled to establish a more tranquil, less-public life. He resided for a time with a couple in Eeklo who had taken him in after earlier rows with his wife, before moving-on to stay with other friends. His parents, who run a bar and his supporters' club in Ploegsteert – membership dropped from 300 to 145 between 2005 and 2006 although 600 bought "Franky is for ever" T-shirts – said in 2006 that they had heard little from their son since he left Belgium for Italy. His wife had visited twice, to present her husband's new clothing collection, but not to see Vandenbroucke. In 2005, he and his estranged wife and their daughter had a weekend at Eurodisney in Paris. Supporters in the Frankyboys fan club at the café 't Parkske in Oudenaarde said Vandenbroucke had never been to see them, "although he said a couple of times that he would come but then never did." The chairman of the Frankyboys, Adelin de Meulemeester, said: "You can see him one day and he'll give you a friendly hello, then the next he won't even notice you [ziet hij je niet staan]."

In 2006 he asked his agent to ask his parents to sell his house in Nieuwkerke, near Ypres.

Vandenbroucke and his uncle, Jean-Luc, did not speak for two years after Vandenbroucke broke his contract in leaving Lotto, the team which Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke managed.

Impersonation

In August 2006, Vandenbroucke was caught in an Italian amateur race at Inverno, run by an organisation not associated with the Italian federation or Olympic committee, using a licence made out to "Francesco del Ponte" and bearing a photo of the world champion, Tom Boonen. He described himself as Swiss and living in Rome, giving the address of a beauty salon.

Vandenbroucke said riding had been "a weakness". He said: "I dropped out of the race. I have never crossed the line in amateur races and I have never wanted to falsify their races." He rode because he "needed races", he said, at a time when he felt strong. He denied sticking Boonen's picture on his licence, saying he would have chosen someone else's picture.

Death

Vandenbroucke died on 12 October 2009, while on holiday at Saly, a coastal resort 70 km south of Dakar, the capital of Senegal. He planned to stay there 12 days with a former teammate, Fabio Polazzi. An autopsy in Senegal showed he had died of a pulmonary embolism.

Major results

1992
1st MaillotBélgica.PNG Road race, National Junior Road Championships
3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships
1993
1st Seraing-Aachen-Seraing
1994
2nd Druivenkoers Overijse
2nd Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
3rd Tour de Berne
3rd Clásica de Sabiñánigo
4th Trofeo Laigueglia
4th Cholet-Pays de la Loire
5th Grand Prix de Rennes
6th Overall Tour Méditerranéen
1st Stage 6
7th Veenendaal–Veenendaal
8th Grand Prix de Wallonie
9th Overall Route du Sud
9th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
1995
1st Paris–Brussels
1st Cholet-Pays de Loire
1st Stage 1 Tour de Luxembourg
2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies
3rd Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
7th Overall Critérium International
8th Clásica de San Sebastián
1996
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Austria
1st Prologue, Stages 3, 6 & 8
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour Méditerranéen
1st Stage 5
1st GP Ouest–France
1st Scheldeprijs
1st Binche-Tournai-Binche
1st Trofeo Laigueglia
Tour de Wallonie
1st Prologue, Stages 2 (ITT) & 5
2nd Grand Prix de Fourmies
4th Overall Paris–Nice
4th Overall Critérium International
5th Coppa Ugo Agostoni
7th Züri-Metzgete
1997
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de Luxembourg
1st Stage 4 (ITT)
1st Rund um Köln
1st Trofeo Matteotti
2nd Overall Tour of Austria
1st Stages 2, 4 & 8
2nd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
1998
1st Jersey white.svg Overall Paris–Nice
1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 5
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour de la Region Wallone
1st Stages 3 (ITT) & 6
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Galicia
1st Stage 4
1st Gent–Wevelgem
1st Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia
2nd La Flèche Wallonne
2nd Züri-Metzgete
2nd Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
2nd Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (with Nico Mattan)
3rd Boucles de l'Aulne
4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1999
1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège
1st Omloop Het Volk
1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
Vuelta a España
1st Jersey silver.svg Points classification
1st Stages 16 & 19
1st Stage 4 Vuelta a Andalucía
2nd Overall Three Days of De Panne
1st Stage 3b (ITT)
2nd Tour of Flanders
3rd E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
4th Overall Paris–Nice
1st Stage 7
5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
7th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
7th Paris–Roubaix
9th GP Ouest–France
2000
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
6th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
1st Stage 3b (TTT)
7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
2002
4th Overall Tour de Pologne
2003
2nd Tour of Flanders
4th Omloop Het Volk
8th Overall Tour of Belgium
9th Dwars door Vlaanderen
2004
1st Grote Prijs Marcel Kint
6th Overall Paris–Nice
6th Overall Tour of Qatar
7th La Flèche Wallonne
8th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
2005
1st Grote Prijs Marcel Kint
3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
2009
3rd Overall Boucle de l'Artois
1st Stage 2 (ITT)

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia
A yellow jersey Tour de France 50 DNF
A yellow jersey/A red jersey Vuelta a España DNF 12 DNF
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

See also

  • List of doping cases in cycling
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