Breaking: VDB Attempts Suicice

by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 7, 2007 9:05 AM EDT in News

VN with the details. And by the time you read this, he may have succeeded. Damn...

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Unfortunately

this doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm sorry it's happened and hope he can pull through and get help, but he's been off the path for years.

As many of us have talked about previously on this site, it's been like watching a crash in slow motion - you can see it happening, guess the outcome, but you're powerless to stop it. I'm sure many of his friends and family have felt the same way.

"I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector."

by Drew on Jun 7, 2007 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

Dude, I have to run

and will be on travel all day. Can you do updates on this and the QS raids as needed s.v.p? thanks!

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Jun 7, 2007 9:14 AM EDT up reply actions

Will do my best

"I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector."

by Drew on Jun 7, 2007 9:17 AM EDT reply actions

Very sad

Physically gifted. Mentally fragile. It must have been very difficult for him when, after one good year, he's hailed as the next Eddie Merckx. That is too much for anyone to live up to.

by Punctured on Jun 7, 2007 11:00 AM EDT reply actions

And like many young sport successes

I'm sure he was surrounded by enablers of every ilk.

"I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector."

by Drew on Jun 7, 2007 11:04 AM EDT reply actions

from the news wire...

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke is recovering in an Italian hospital after an apparent suicide attempt, hospital officials and his team director said Thursday.
Vandenbroucke, 32, was brought to the Fornaroli hospital outside Milan on Wednesday.
The hospital said Vandenbroucke's life was not in danger. Citing privacy rules, officials declined to provide details about the
suicide attempt.
Acqua & Sapone team director Palmiro Masciarelli said Vandenbroucke was depressed because his wife had left him.
Italian media reported he has been depressed since police found illegal performance-enhancing substances during a raid on his home in 2002. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service in
2004.
Vandenbroucke hasn't won a race since 2004. In 1998, he won the Ghent-Wevelgem classic and the Paris-Nice race, then took the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in 1999.
He had knee surgery in February.

by 1km2go on Jun 7, 2007 11:45 AM EDT reply actions

I have a lot of compassion for VDB

I'm not sure why, but I usually find myself rooting for him.

Not now. I don't know much about his wife, Sarah, other than he once threaten her with a shotgun. But now that she has left him, to load her up with a lifetime of blame and guilt for getting out of such a messed up relationship is the worst thing he could have done besides pulling the trigger on the shotgun.

If he wants to end it all, that is his choice. But to choose to end it in such a way that leaves a lifetime of pain, blame, guilt, and suffering for your survivors is close to the [expletive] of all possible actions.

I still hope there is healing and peace for Frankie, but I'm out of sympathy.

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