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Frank Vandenbroucke Tribute: VDB Forever
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Frank Vandenbroucke
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 Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 1999. From 2000 he made the sports pages more for doping problems, failed comebacks, depression, marital problems, and a suicide attempt.
Vandenbroucke left Lotto in the middle of 1995 to join Mapei. There he became a teammate of Johan Museeuw. The manager was Patrick Lefevère. 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.
In 1999 he instead transferred to the French team, Cofidis. 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. 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 publicized and criticized. 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 drug scandals.
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 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 criticized 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. 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 when accused by Belgian police of buying cocaine in Wielsbeke.
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.
Excerpt from Wikipedia – Read the Full Article here: Frank Vandenbroucke
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