Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist)

Frank Vandenbroucke

Vandenbroucke at the 2002 Paris–Tours
Personal information
Full name	Frank Vandenbroucke
Nickname	VDB[n 1]
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
Professional teams
1994	Lotto
1995–1998	Mapei–GB–Latexco
1999–2000	Cofidis
2001	Lampre–Daikin
2002	Domo–Farm Frites
2003	Quick-Step–Davitamon
2004	Fassa Bortolo
2004–2006	Unibet.com
2006–2007	Acqua & Sapone
2008	Mitsubishi–Jartazi
2009	Cinelli–Down Under
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. This early success dissipated however in a series of drug problems, rows with teams and suicide attempts. Despite repeated attempts to continue his career with a string of different teams from 2000 to 2008, Vandenbroucke's drug use and unpredictability eventually led to his estrangement from the cycling world.^[1] 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.^[2]

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