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Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist)
Encyclopedia
Frank Vandenbroucke was a Belgian
professional road racing cyclist. He was the great hope of Belgian cycling in the 1990s but a remarkable talent which appeared in his adolescence in athletics
and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drugs problems, rows with teams, suicide attempts and finally being disowned by world cycling. His former wife described him as a cocaine addict. He is known to have had numerous drug and family problems, and to have attempted suicide
. However, VDB claimed in an interview with ProCycling's Daniel Friebe three weeks before his death to have made a near-complete recovery from the emotional issues that plagued him throughout his career. Vandenbroucke told Friebe, "I simply realise that the last year and a half have been fantastic for me." Nevertheless, he died of a pulmonary embolism
in October 2009.
and grew up in Ploegsteert
, a village in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. 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.Vandenbroucke's elder daughter, Cameron, joined the same club and won the Hainaut cyclo-cross championship and then the Walloon cyclo-cross championship in the class for under-10s, in 2008 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:
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.
was his uncle, Jean-Luc. He won 51 races in the next six years, including Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1999. From 2000 he made the sports pages more for doping problems, failed comebacks, depression, marital problems and a failed suicide.
Vandenbroucke left Lotto in the middle of 1995 to join Mapei
. There he became a team-mate of Johan Museeuw
. The manager was Patrick Lefevère
. Vandenbroucke stayed there until the end of 1998, the year in which he won Gent–Wevelgem, two stages and the overall competition of Paris–Nice, and two stages of the Tour de Wallonie
.
In 1999 he transferred to the French
team, Cofidis
. The British magazine Procycling said:
At Cofidis he shared leadership with David Millar
. His "non-communication" with Millar was publicised and criticised. It was with Cofidis, Vandenbroucke said in his autobiography, that he met the French rider, Philippe Gaumont
. It was Gaumont's confessions of drug-taking in the team that led to the so-called Cofidis scandal that included a raid by drugs police on Millar's house and the British rider's suspension for two years and his disqualification from the world time-trial championship he had won. Gaumont, Vandenbroucke said in his life story, suggested he take a drug trip by mixing Stilnoct, a sleeping aid, with alcohol. Gaumont described Vandenbroucke as a wild man of cycling. It was Gaumont, Vandenbroucke said, who introduced him to Bernard Sainz
, with whom his name would be connected in alleged drugs scandals (see below).
That year was Vandenbroucke's best. 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 so dominant that some called him a "genius of cycling", because he said on television where he would attack. It was, however, his last year of major victories. In 2001 he moved to the Italian
team, Lampre, 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 Ronde van Vlaanderen. 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. He 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. He was sacked for not staying in touch. In 2008, he signed with Mitsubishi, where he was suspended when accused by Belgian police of buying cocaine
in Wielsbeke
.
On April 4, 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.
, 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).
In July 2006, VDB fired a gun into the air while arguing with his wife, who later left him. Vandenbroucke's father, Jean-Jacques, said his son had tried to frighten his wife that he had committed suicide. His father said:
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' clubIt began in May 1999, said its secretary, Kurt van Rijcke, just as Vandenbroucke was sacked by Cofidis. The club really took off after the second Sainz affair, De Rijcke told Het Laatste Nieuws in April 2004, "so you can't say that we jumped on the bandwagon of his success." http://users.telenet.be/frankyboys/ 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 Nieuwekerke, near Ypres
.The house was described in Procycling as having "a whole range of bedrooms, different garages for his bikes and his cars, spacious living rooms, an indoor swimming pool, and backs on to the pond dug so that he could indulge his passion for fishing.
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.
, the so-called Dr Mabuse of cycling. Sainz was jailed in 2008 for falsely practising medicine. Sainz could not produce the insurance documents the law insisted he carry and police searched the car and found drugs later identified as clenbuterol, morphine and EPO, which is used in sport as a blood-booster.The French journalist Florent Joyard said supporters in the bar which Vandenbroucke's parents keep at Ploegsteert, were puzzled by what had been found. One was quoted as saying: "Clenbuterol leaves traces for a month, so you'd have to be really an idiot to take it. It's impossible. And what else did they find? An ampoule of Eprex (EPO), but EPO stays detectable for eight days and Frank rode the Tour Mediterranéen, the Haut Var and the Classic Haribo... As for the sachets of morphine, Frank told me himself that he had used morphine when he had his two broken wrists in plaster [after a race crash]... Anyway, with morphine, come the first kerb and you're on the ground." - Vélo, April 2002 Sainz insisted they were homeopathic products. After Sainz said he had spent the night at Vandenbroucke's house, police acquired a search warrant from a court in Termonde and searched Vandenbroucke's house with drugs specialists. There they found small quantities of more drugs which Vandenbroucke claimed were for his dog. Vandenbroucke was handcuffed and taken to a police station. Two and a half thousand fans signed a petition complaining about his treatment. Among them was his rival, Peter van Petegem. Vandenbroucke was banned by the Flemish cycling federation from riding in Belgium for six months.
The police said he was "very evasive" during questioning. The inquiries continued and in December 2004 Vandenbroucke admitted taking growth hormones, EPO, amphetamine
, morphine and steroids, although he did not name his suppliers. He was found guilty in 2005 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service. He appealed and a court in Ghent fined him 250,000 euros instead. The Belgian press agency, Belga, said the court considered a fine suited to "the type of crime and Vandenbroucke's personality."
Vandenbroucke said he was naive but not dishonest in using Sainz - who was not charged - but that he was impressed at his results. He said at a news conference in Ploegsteert that he had always thought Sainz gave him homeopathic products but that he had doubts. He said Sainz had given him drops and injections. He said:
He paid Sainz 7,000 French francs for the homeopathic drops and 50,000 in fees in the first half of 1999. Sainz said:
Vandenbroucke was twice stopped by police in 2002 for driving his Porsche
after drinking.
In February 2007, publicity for Vandenbroucke's autobiography, Je ne suis pas Dieu [I'm Not God] said he admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs.
The publisher later denied Vandenbroucke had said it, claiming a misunderstanding. Vandenbroucke did, however, write that he lived a life of drug-taking and sometimes didn't sleep for days. He said:
In March, the Union Cycliste Internationale
declared Vandenbroucke persona non grata
. His ex-wife described him as a cocaine addict. Vandenbroucke was suspended by Mitsubishi-Jartazi and then left.
. 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.
On 6 June 2007 he was admitted to hospital at Magenta, near Milan, Italy
, where he lived. He was reported in "grave" condition. His team-manager, Palmiro Masciarelli, said: "Frank is all alone [est actuellement abandonné]. He no longer has his wife and he lives by himself. There is no longer a team at his side."
Vandenbroucke had turned down the Giro d'Italia
, claiming problems with his knee, on which he had an operation the previous winter. His psychiatrist, Jef Brouwers, said
due to a pulmonary embolism
.
1995 - Lotto
1996 - Mapei
1997 - Mapei
1998 - Mapei
1999 - Cofidis
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
professional road racing cyclist. He was the great hope of Belgian cycling in the 1990s but a remarkable talent which appeared in his adolescence in athletics
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drugs problems, rows with teams, suicide attempts and finally being disowned by world cycling. His former wife described him as a cocaine addict. He is known to have had numerous drug and family problems, and to have attempted suicide
Failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempts comprise a large portion of suicide attempts. Some are regarded as not true attempts at all, but rather parasuicide. The usual attempt may be a wish to affect another person by the behaviour. Consequently, it occurs in a social context and may represent a request for help....
. However, VDB claimed in an interview with ProCycling's Daniel Friebe three weeks before his death to have made a near-complete recovery from the emotional issues that plagued him throughout his career. Vandenbroucke told Friebe, "I simply realise that the last year and a half have been fantastic for me." Nevertheless, he died of a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
in October 2009.
Background
Frank Vandenbroucke was born in MouscronMouscron
Mouscron is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. The Mouscron municipality includes the old communes of Dottignies , Luingne, and Herseaux .-Middle Ages:...
and grew up in Ploegsteert
Ploegsteert
Ploegsteert is a village in Belgium located in the municipality of Comines-Warneton in the Hainaut province. It is approximately 2 kilometres north of the French border. Created in 1850 on part of the territory of Warneton, it includes the hamlet of Le Bizet....
, a village in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. 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.Vandenbroucke's elder daughter, Cameron, joined the same club and won the Hainaut cyclo-cross championship and then the Walloon cyclo-cross championship in the class for under-10s, in 2008 He took out a cycling licence with the club in 1989 and won a race at Brakel
Brakel
Brakel is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek and the Flemish Ardennes. The name is derived from a Carolingian villa Braglo first mentioned in 866 and located in the center of Opbrakel. Since 1970, the municipality has comprised the villages of Nederbrakel,...
. 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
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 1992.
Career
Vandenbroucke turned professional in 1993 with the Belgian team, Lotto. The directeur sportifDirecteur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...
was his uncle, Jean-Luc. He won 51 races in the next six years, including Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1999. From 2000 he made the sports pages more for doping problems, failed comebacks, depression, marital problems and a failed suicide.
Vandenbroucke left Lotto in the middle of 1995 to join Mapei
Mapei (cycling team)
Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....
. There he became a team-mate of Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw
Johan Museeuw is a retired Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1988 to 2004 and was particularly successful in the classic cycle races in the nineties....
. The manager was Patrick Lefevère
Patrick Lefévère
Patrick Lefevere is the Belgian cycling team manager of the Quick Step-Innergetic cycling team. He is from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of the north. He was a professional racer from 1976 to 1979, winning Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and the fourth stage in the Vuelta a España, both in 1978...
. Vandenbroucke stayed there until the end of 1998, the year in which he won Gent–Wevelgem, two stages and the overall competition of Paris–Nice, and two stages of the Tour de Wallonie
Tour de Wallonie
The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour- Winners...
.
In 1999 he transferred to the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
team, Cofidis
Cofidis (cycling team)
Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault-Elf team of the 1980s...
. 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
David Millar
David Millar is a British road racing cyclist riding for . He has won three stages of the Tour de France, two of the Vuelta a España and one Stage of the Giro d'Italia. He was the British national road champion and the national time trial champion, both in 2007...
. His "non-communication" with Millar was publicised and criticised. It was with Cofidis, Vandenbroucke said in his autobiography, that he met the French rider, Philippe Gaumont
Philippe Gaumont
Philippe Gaumont is a former French professional road racing cyclist. He is notorious for having confessed to extensive doping and explaining a lot of the tricks of the trade.-Racing results:...
. It was Gaumont's confessions of drug-taking in the team that led to the so-called Cofidis scandal that included a raid by drugs police on Millar's house and the British rider's suspension for two years and his disqualification from the world time-trial championship he had won. Gaumont, Vandenbroucke said in his life story, suggested he take a drug trip by mixing Stilnoct, a sleeping aid, with alcohol. Gaumont described Vandenbroucke as a wild man of cycling. It was Gaumont, Vandenbroucke said, who introduced him to Bernard Sainz
Bernard Sainz
Bernard Sainz, aka Dr Mabuse, was an unlicensed sports doctor who achieved great success in horse racing and cycling. He was jailed for falsely practising medicine, particularly in cycle racing.-Background:...
, with whom his name would be connected in alleged drugs scandals (see below).
That year was Vandenbroucke's best. He won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Omloop Het Volk, and stages in Paris–Nice and the Vuelta a España
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...
. His win in Liège–Bastogne–Liège was so dominant that some called him a "genius of cycling", because he said on television where he would attack. It was, however, his last year of major victories. In 2001 he moved to the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
team, Lampre, 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
Peter van Petegem
Peter van Petegem is a former professional road racing cyclist. Van Petegem last rode for Quick Step-Innergetic, in 2007. He lived in Horebeke. He was a specialist in spring classics, one of ten riders to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris–Roubaix in the same season...
in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. 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
Giancarlo Ferretti
Giancarlo Ferretti is the former manager of the now-disbanded Italian professional road bicycle racing team Fassa Bortolo team, sponsored by the Italian cement company of the same name....
. He asked not to be paid unless he won. He had a largely empty season and was fired. He joined Mr Bookmaker for 2005
2005 in road cycling
The 2005 season will be best remembered for Lance Armstrong's unparalleled seventh successive victory in the Tour de France, however it was also notable for other reasons...
. He missed so many races that the team director, Hilaire Van der Schueren, demanded Vandenbroucke demonstrate that he was still a racing cyclist. He was sacked for not staying in touch. In 2008, he signed with Mitsubishi, where he was suspended when accused by Belgian police of buying cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
in Wielsbeke
Wielsbeke
Wielsbeke is a city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Ooigem, Sint-Baafs-Vijve and Wielsbeke proper. On January 1, 2006 Wielsbeke had a total population of 8,906. The total area is 21.76 km² which gives a population density of 409 inhabitants...
.
On April 4, 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. The two met at the world championship in Verona in 1999 and were married on 22 October 2000. They lived at LebbekeLebbeke
Lebbeke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek. The municipality comprises the towns of Denderbelle, Lebbeke proper and Wieze. On January 1, 2006 Lebbeke had a total population of 17,608...
, near Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
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).
In July 2006, VDB fired a gun into the air while arguing with his wife, who later left him. Vandenbroucke's father, Jean-Jacques, said his son had tried to frighten his wife that he had committed suicide. His father said:
"Frank was talking to Sarah on the telephone. They were arguing. He went out into the garden and let his shotgun off into the air. She was frightened that something had happened to him and called 100. He did it to try to make her scared."
...it was the fifth or sixth time that she had returned to Italy. When they are together they fight, when they are apart they cry. He can't bear it when she leaves. He blames himself and takes all the guilt. And then there is his daughter. He can't bear not being able to see her. I probably shouldn't say so but, since Verona when he met Sarah, he has not been a committed rider."
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
Eeklo
Eeklo is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality only comprises the city of Eeklo proper. The name Eeklo comes from the contraction of “eke” and “lo”, two Old German words meaning “oak” and “sparse woods”....
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' clubIt began in May 1999, said its secretary, Kurt van Rijcke, just as Vandenbroucke was sacked by Cofidis. The club really took off after the second Sainz affair, De Rijcke told Het Laatste Nieuws in April 2004, "so you can't say that we jumped on the bandwagon of his success." http://users.telenet.be/frankyboys/ 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 Nieuwekerke, near Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
.The house was described in Procycling as having "a whole range of bedrooms, different garages for his bikes and his cars, spacious living rooms, an indoor swimming pool, and backs on to the pond dug so that he could indulge his passion for fishing.
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.
Drug problems
Vandenbroucke made headlines in 1999 for the first of many drug problems, arrested by Paris police but then released. In 2001 he was stopped on the E17 motorway in Belgium in a speeding car shared with Bernard SainzBernard Sainz
Bernard Sainz, aka Dr Mabuse, was an unlicensed sports doctor who achieved great success in horse racing and cycling. He was jailed for falsely practising medicine, particularly in cycle racing.-Background:...
, the so-called Dr Mabuse of cycling. Sainz was jailed in 2008 for falsely practising medicine. Sainz could not produce the insurance documents the law insisted he carry and police searched the car and found drugs later identified as clenbuterol, morphine and EPO, which is used in sport as a blood-booster.The French journalist Florent Joyard said supporters in the bar which Vandenbroucke's parents keep at Ploegsteert, were puzzled by what had been found. One was quoted as saying: "Clenbuterol leaves traces for a month, so you'd have to be really an idiot to take it. It's impossible. And what else did they find? An ampoule of Eprex (EPO), but EPO stays detectable for eight days and Frank rode the Tour Mediterranéen, the Haut Var and the Classic Haribo... As for the sachets of morphine, Frank told me himself that he had used morphine when he had his two broken wrists in plaster [after a race crash]... Anyway, with morphine, come the first kerb and you're on the ground." - Vélo, April 2002 Sainz insisted they were homeopathic products. After Sainz said he had spent the night at Vandenbroucke's house, police acquired a search warrant from a court in Termonde and searched Vandenbroucke's house with drugs specialists. There they found small quantities of more drugs which Vandenbroucke claimed were for his dog. Vandenbroucke was handcuffed and taken to a police station. Two and a half thousand fans signed a petition complaining about his treatment. Among them was his rival, Peter van Petegem. Vandenbroucke was banned by the Flemish cycling federation from riding in Belgium for six months.
The police said he was "very evasive" during questioning. The inquiries continued and in December 2004 Vandenbroucke admitted taking growth hormones, EPO, amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
, morphine and steroids, although he did not name his suppliers. He was found guilty in 2005 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service. He appealed and a court in Ghent fined him 250,000 euros instead. The Belgian press agency, Belga, said the court considered a fine suited to "the type of crime and Vandenbroucke's personality."
Vandenbroucke said he was naive but not dishonest in using Sainz - who was not charged - but that he was impressed at his results. He said at a news conference in Ploegsteert that he had always thought Sainz gave him homeopathic products but that he had doubts. He said Sainz had given him drops and injections. He said:
He paid Sainz 7,000 French francs for the homeopathic drops and 50,000 in fees in the first half of 1999. Sainz said:
I have concerned myself with him since autumn 1998. Not, as has been claimed, to get him doping products. Everybody knows perfectly, starting with the policemen who have listened to me for a long time, that riders don't need me for that sort of thing. To the contrary. If they turn to me, it's because they've heard of what I have been able to do [mes compétences diverses] for the great stars I have cited.
Vandenbroucke was twice stopped by police in 2002 for driving his Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
after drinking.
In February 2007, publicity for Vandenbroucke's autobiography, Je ne suis pas Dieu [I'm Not God] said he admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs.
The publisher later denied Vandenbroucke had said it, claiming a misunderstanding. Vandenbroucke did, however, write that he lived a life of drug-taking and sometimes didn't sleep for days. He said:
In March, the Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....
declared Vandenbroucke persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
. His ex-wife described him as a cocaine addict. Vandenbroucke was suspended by Mitsubishi-Jartazi and then left.
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"Del Ponte is a rough translation of Vandenbroucke in Italian. "Van den" means "of the" or "from the" in pre-reform spelling; there is no Dutch word "broucke" but the pronunciation sounds like the word for "bridge" or "bridges". It also sounds like the word for "trousers", leading to comments that his name could also have been translated as del Pantalone. That was the version that Vandenbroucke told reporters from Gazzetta dello Sport would have been "the more appropriate" translation. "Broucke means 'trousers' in Dutch", he said. and bearing a photo of the world champion, Tom BoonenTom Boonen
Tom Boonen is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer who won the 2005 World Road Race Championship. He is a member of the team, and is considered a single-day road race specialist with a strong finishing sprint...
. 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.
Suicide attempt
Vandenbroucke had a reputation for "accidents, illnesses, doping allegations, lawsuits, suspicion, surliness and suspensions". He said:On 6 June 2007 he was admitted to hospital at Magenta, near Milan, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he lived. He was reported in "grave" condition. His team-manager, Palmiro Masciarelli, said: "Frank is all alone [est actuellement abandonné]. He no longer has his wife and he lives by himself. There is no longer a team at his side."
Vandenbroucke had turned down the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
, claiming problems with his knee, on which he had an operation the previous winter. His psychiatrist, Jef Brouwers, said
"... the problems with his knee have affected him badly. He could no longer ride as he wanted after the operation. Nor could the doctors say what the problem was. These last few days, he has been terrible. The people that I called in Italy could no longer help him. He had thought it through and, so far as he was concerned, everything was lost. The situation of his knee has worn him down completely [l'a entièrement dévoré] and his private life wasn't good either, with ups and downs."
Death
Vandenbroucke died on 12 October 2009, while on holiday in SenegalSenegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
due to a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
.
Selected victories
1994 - Lotto1995 - Lotto
- Paris–Brussels
- GP de Cholet-Pays-de-Loire
1996 - Mapei
- GP de l'Escaut-Schoten
- GP Ouest-FranceGP Ouest-FranceGrand-Prix de Plouay Ouest-France is an elite cycle race held annually in late summer around a circuit based on the small Breton village of Plouay since 1931...
- Tour MéditerranéenTour MéditerranéenTour Méditerranéen is a professional road bicycle racing event held in southern France along the Mediterranean Sea. The Tour Méditerranéen is a five-day stage race that began in 1974 and since 2005 has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event...
1997 - Mapei
- Rund um KölnRund um KölnThe Rund um Köln is a classic cycling race which is based around the German city of Cologne. Since 2005 it is part of the UCI Europe Tour, being organised as 1.1 race . It is one of the oldest cycling races still running in Germany, just after Rund um die Hainleite, which was first held in 1908...
- Tour de LuxembourgTour de LuxembourgTour de Luxembourg is an annual stage race in professional road bicycle racing held in Luxembourg. The Tour de Luxembourg is classified as a 2.HC, the highest rating below the ProTour, by the Union Cycliste Internationale , the sport's governing body. In 2006, the Tour was part of the UCI Europe...
- Trofeo MatteottiTrofeo MatteottiTrofeo Matteotti is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Pescara, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.-Winners:...
1998 - Mapei
- Gent–Wevelgem
- Paris–Nice
- Volta a Galega
- Tour de WallonieTour de WallonieThe Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour- Winners...
1999 - Cofidis
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- Omloop Het Volk
- Grand Prix d'Ouverture La MarseillaiseGrand Prix d'Ouverture La MarseillaiseGrand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February around the city of Marseille, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour...
- Vuelta a EspañaVuelta a EspañaThe Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...
:- 12th, Overall
- 1st, Stages 17 & 20
- 1st, Points
External links
- Frank Vandenbroucke - Daily Telegraph obituary
- Alan Hope, "Death of a hard rider" and Leo Cendrowicz, "Brilliant but troubled: Vandenbroucke's stormy career" - articles in Flanders Today
- VDB4-ever - Frank Vandenbroucke Memorial Site