Frank Vandenbroucke (34) has died
by isolde100 on Oct 12, 2009 5:11 PM EDT
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Frank Vandenbroucke, one of the stars of Belgian cycling in the 1990s, has died of a lung embolism while he was on holiday in Senegal, according to the Belgian station RTBF. Vandenbroucke won Paris-Brussels in 1994, the Tour of Austria and the Scheldeprijs in 1996, the Tour of Luxembourg in 1997, Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Nice in 1998, and in 1999 Luik-Bastenaken-Luik and two stages of the Vuelta a Espana.
Vandenbroucke was only 34 years old at the time of his death.
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Sad...
…and I’m reminded of the UCI’s new “True Champion or Cheat” program that alludes to an ending like this if you become involved in doping.
by Chief Commissaire on Oct 12, 2009 5:16 PM EDT reply actions
It is. So much talent, so many personal issues.
I mean uh... hasn't that ever occurred to you, man? Sir?
Verdoeme!
Flemish documentary from 2006:
part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enQa0GLQej8
part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bUiqCdNBe0
This is truly sad
He was always a guy I rooted for through all his comeback attempts. Truly a great talent but a troubled soul. Condolences to his friends and family.
He will be missed.
by Peter Fontecchio on Oct 12, 2009 5:34 PM EDT reply actions
nice – that image seems a fitting memorial, says so much
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
by plinytheelder on Oct 12, 2009 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Story here at RTBF, with some links including a nice interview with Maxime Monfort.
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
yeah, really puts across how important a figure he was.
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
by plinytheelder on Oct 12, 2009 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions
First view was same for me
Probably to do with referrer info and them trying to avert external embedding or some such.
;)
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
by plinytheelder on Oct 13, 2009 8:04 AM EDT up reply actions
It's sad to see him go.
Often times we can forget that our heros are like us, that they are indeed very human. FV helped me remember this. As tragic as his personal problems were, I know that I have more respect for our sport and the people who do it because of him.
Here’s to you FV.
Most people rememer his personal issues
but he also won 51 professional races and came in second a number of times too (twice to Van Petegem at de Ronde). He could win any one day race anywhere. The pressures of being a super talented young rider in Belgium can’t be fun.
by Peter Fontecchio on Oct 12, 2009 6:48 PM EDT reply actions
He rode away from Bartoli at LBL - don't forget that one.
I mean uh... hasn't that ever occurred to you, man? Sir?
I have that 1999 LBL video
I might have to dig that out and watch it again tonight.
It’s a tribute to VdB’s spetacular talent that despite all of his problems, so many people thought that giving him another chance was worth a try.
What a sad story this is.
by Susie Hartigan on Oct 12, 2009 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Ugh. Horrible. Such a waste.
"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.
Documentary from June this year
“Fallen for Sarah” (Dutch/French) http://www.youtube.com/user/zabjim#g/u
51 career wins but
50 before the age of 25. For those who didn’t follow the sport in the late 90’s he was essentially Boonen. Different style (not a big sprint, but could really blister a climb), but similar meteoric rise.
by Peter Fontecchio on Oct 12, 2009 7:17 PM EDT reply actions
Yep. He could podium at both Flanders and LBL, while riding PR too.
Great all around talent.
I mean uh... hasn't that ever occurred to you, man? Sir?
Shocked.
Despite his wild ways, this is a shock. Frankie Boy was always a sentimental favorite of mine. I always wanted his latest comeback to stick. He was a huge talent. I hope this causes today’s crop to reevaluate the price of fame.
"…I saw bloody Cavendish coming, really fast…"
HH
a cautionary tale for the current generation
34 is very young. rip
http://drunkcyclist.com/2009/01/10/frank-vandenbroucke/
"Race radios in Cat 4?"
People,
please hold off linking his death to doping. Apparently he died from a pulmonary embolism, which could have all sorts of totally non-doping related causes, like deep vein thrombosis from sitting in the same position too long (on a flight, for example) or hereditary causes, or just bad luck. I think his doping days were long gone, certainly his results were very unremarkable the last years.
I've not seen that, myself
Tho’ admittedly, I’ve not done a lot of looking beyond that. I would, of course, have no surprise if it had been dope (as in non-PED) related. Dude was a troubled man. And I say that with all sympathy and zero condemnation.
I'm there too.
I count myself as a fan, but the guy appeared to lack self control.
"…I saw bloody Cavendish coming, really fast…"
HH
Perhaps he did...alright, he did...but depression is an insidious illness
that leads to many self-destructive behaviours. And it is an illness.
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
well put
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
by plinytheelder on Oct 12, 2009 10:54 PM EDT up reply actions
sort of disagree
We have to moralize this event to make sense of it—HOW we do that is open to question.
For some weird reason, Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Candle in the Wind” comes to mind.
How about 'Out, out brief candle'?
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
I'm not so sure.
One because we don’t even know the cause of death yet, and may never. Two because we’ll likely not be in anything like a position to pass any kind of meaningful judgement on the whole of the guy’s life and obviously tricky psychological profile. Third because I really don’t see how passing some kind of moral judgement (aka, it is / is not his ‘fault’ in some sense, or if not his someone else’s) judgement really helps to make sense of someone dying young. I’m not sure anything makes sense of that, though moralizing might make us feel temporarily better about the way death, and especially untimely death, resists being made sense of.
I don't mean to be rude
and I don’t mean to “judge”, but this guy was, beyond a doubt, doped to his eyebrows for years so he could kick ass on a bike. It caught up with him many times over. I don’t know how all that related to his demise in Senegal, but fer crying outdoors kids, DO NOT do as he did. It is a waste of your talent and life.
"…I saw bloody Cavendish coming, really fast…"
HH
I doubt anyone was suggesting him as a role model.
I surely wasn’t. But if the meaning of his life gets reduced to, did way too many drugs and died young, that’s not something I’m on board with. Frankly, I’m not on board with that statement about the meaning of anyone’s life. And I don’t care how many drugs they did. That was my entire point.
How about:
Be really careful about freighting ordinary mortals with the freight of the super-natural expectations of their ‘fans’?
Ain’t too many people that can hold up under that weight.
That I fully agree with...
…though not as the meaning of his life. But yeah, nobody’s nickname should be ‘God’. Fully agreed there.
Only after he joined Cofidis and learned from the master Gaumont
did he dope. He can use the Valverde-defense with reason: he won all sorts of important stuff from when he was a little kid. He really was extremely talented, physically. Mentally, he was extremely prone to taking uppers & downers and all sorts of bad stuff. Shame.
watching the documentary you posted above
he just looks like someone who was very emotional and definitely fragile. Seems like a nice enough guy but psychologically fragile. But yeah, a huge talent. And who knows, maybe he really did believe Sainz was only using homeopathics on him. (not that that was the only thing he ever took)
That is what he maintains himself
but is that commonly believed? This always sounded to me like the typical “admit everything that is already proven” strategy but admittedly I have much poorer insight than you.
"The light that burns twice as bright . . . .
. . . . burns half as long, . . ."; and he had burned so very, very brightly.
Frank impacted a lot of people around him, and I would suspect he will be missed by most of them.
A tragic loss to his family and the sport...
… ok he had his issues but characters are not really tolerated anymore so he could be viewed as the last real individual in the sport.
"The Modern Day Merlin" - Deggsy Acorah.
Sounds like he was with a friend (Fabio Polazzi, another cyclist), arrived in Senegal around 5pm, went for dinner, left the hotel around midnight to meet a woman, and never returned. Next afternoon the police contacted Polazzi and told him VDB was dead. The woman he was with was interviewed by the police, and declared that VDB said he didn’t feel well and then fainted.
Obviously not much known yet, Polazzi did mention that VDB had 2 cell phones with him but neither was there when his body was found.
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
by plinytheelder on Oct 13, 2009 8:25 AM EDT up reply actions
New story is now drugs that were found at his bed side that could have lead to his death....
still sad…
Frank Vandenbroucke is possible before his death various medicines. Besides the bed of the deceased cyclist Monday his sleeping pills, anxiety drugs and insulin was found, reports the French sports newspaper L’Équipe.
http://www.wielrennennieuws.nl/medicatie-aangetroffen-bij-vdb.html
This article is twenty minutes old and much less sensational
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/belgian-cyclist-found-dead-in-hotel-20091013-gugt.html
"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'
L’équipe cites Het laatste Nieuws: “Maintenant, Dieu est mort.”
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
some very touching comments here by his father and uncle
I'm feverished, or the way you want to spell it
Very sad
whatever the cause of his death, he clearly suffered a lot from the effects of depression which is such a cunning and cruel illness.
depression can sometimes kill: recent suicide of Vic van Schil (teammate of Merckx)
Indeed the news is tragic. Victor van Schil, former teammate of Merckx, committed suicide only a few weeks ago.
For more reading
Sporza.be is all over the story, as you’d expect. If there are other sources, I’m all ears. But if you open Sporza in the google.com/translate window (by translating a link, and I use Dutch-English), you can click on other stories in the VDB cue and read them in English. Old news to many of you, but I just figured this out. Sporza will now be my homepage.
ABRUZZIAM...uh oh
by Chris Fontecchio on Oct 13, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions
Yes
It would be disrespectful of Flemish if they nailed the translation from Dutch.
ABRUZZIAM...uh oh
by Chris Fontecchio on Oct 13, 2009 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Family pic by Cor Vos / PezCyclingNews
brings tears to my eyes.
Thanks Cor and Pez, I am sure you will not mind sharing the pic.
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