Frank Vandenbroucke

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 track and field and then in cycle racing dissipated in a succession of drug problems, rows with teams, suicide attempts and finally being disowned by the cycling world. His former wife described him as a cocaine addict. 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.