I predict that.....

[saab2000]

.... Frank Vandenbrouke will do something this year of note on the bike. He finished the Etoile de Besseges in France. Gotta finish races before you can win them. For a talent of the same caliber as Boonen, he has not yet lived up to it, but he still could.

He will be a player in something big this year.

[Grant McLean]

.... Frank Vandenbrouke.....snip....

He will be a player in something big this year.

Ya, like a power forward on a ball hockey team for a mental asylum in northern Belgium?

-g

[saab2000]

I am serious. I think his ghosts of seasons past have been partially exorcised and he will pull something out o' the hat.

What does the jerk hear?

[Fixed]

bro he has a lot of talent but he wasted a few years away .bro I can't blame him when i was young I used to like to party too, I'd do things different but you can't you can only go on from now i.m.h.o. cheers :beer:

[Grant McLean]

I am serious. I think his ghosts of seasons past have been partially exorcised and he will pull something out o' the hat.


I hope you're right.
He's a MP talent.

-g

[Roy E. Munson]

I had to dig this old thread up.

Snipped from cyclingnews:


Latest deadline for VDB on June 21
The team management of Unibet.com have been more than patient with their "leader" Franck Vandenbroucke, who has barely raced for the outfit this season. Hilaire Van der Schueren has now set up one last deadline for the 'enfant terrible' of Belgian cycling: June 21. If the rider hasn't raced until then, "it can't go on," according to the team manager.

VDB is thus scheduled to take part in a kermesse in Ruddevoorde on June 20, followed by Halle-Ingooigem on the next day and the Belgian Championships on Sunday, June 25 in Antwerpen.

[stevep]

not a chance.
hes so far out of his mind that he is lucky if he can find his bike...never mind find a result. the man cracked. happens more than you think...but not so publicly usually.
too much pressure too early...
his income ratchets down as there is always someone who can throw a few bucks into a bet that maybe he can figure this out someday...and maybe they can straighten him out.

[obtuse]

none of you know the half of it.

obtuse

[Roy E. Munson]

I know the half that matters, he's a washed up lunatic

[fiamme red]

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.racing/msg/327bb6d41af99fc1

"Frank VDB is the Liz Taylor of bicycle racing. Once a hottie, now a trainwreck, but anything he does is newsworthy."

[wasfast]

none of you know the half of it.

obtuse

If you have additional information, I'd be interested in hearing it. All I've heard is that he had some severe depression issues. Sounds like it's more than that from the media. Info?

[sspielman]

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.racing/msg/327bb6d41af99fc1

"Frank VDB is the Liz Taylor of bicycle racing. Once a hottie, now a trainwreck, but anything he does is newsworthy."


Great quote...which brings to mind another quote which seems to apply to Frank's relationship with any team for which he rides. Actually said by Elizabeth Taylor to her seventh (!) husband "Darling, I love you, but I won't keep you long..."

[Fat Robert]

If you have additional information, I'd be interested in hearing it. All I've heard is that he had some severe depression issues. Sounds like it's more than that from the media. Info?

you really think our obtuse jerk is going to air his pal frank's problems on an internet forum?

vdb was a great talent -- and clearly a troubled guy who has been through a lot of struggles that most of us would have cracked under. pop in your 1999 liege tape and be awed.

[Grant McLean]

vdb was a great talent -- and clearly a troubled guy who has been through a lot of struggles that most of us would have cracked under. pop in your 1999 liege tape and be awed.

word.

That was a great race.
I'm going to watch it after my ride tonite,
which will seem down right pathetic by comparison.

g

[obtuse]

I know the half that matters, he's a washed up lunatic


yeah, but think of the damage he could do on the back of the munson train if we sign him for ibc/nerac.

obuse

[Roy E. Munson]

vdb was a great talent -- and clearly a troubled guy who has been through a lot of struggles that most of us would have cracked under

Wow, you knew him too? Geez, so many people with insight into his personal problems.

[obtuse]

Wow, you knew him too? Geez, so many people with insight into his personal problems.


yeah, frank is the fruckin' kevin bacon of the serotta forum; except with a better mullet.

obtuse

[Fat Robert]

Wow, you knew him too? Geez, so many people with insight into his personal problems.


no roy(s). I never met him and never claimed to. it seems like a bit of common sense, however, to conclude that human beings don't just crack up and spend years in (apparent) turmoil unless they're dealing with some serious crap. labeling a guy as a "nutcase" is stupid and, if I may take liberties with the name, obtuse. I don't think it irrational to look at someone's well-publicized career and domestic troubles and say that they have "clearly" dealt with some serious crap that would crack most of us in the same situation. unless you're a two-headed internet genius....

[Fixed]

bro some cats just like to get high .
cheers

[Roy E. Munson]

bro some cats just like to get high

...and I applaud that. But I've never read or heard that VDB liked his chems, other than the performance enhancers. So I think I'll form my own opinion on him and assume loose cannon until proven otherwise. obtuse is entitled to his opinion, Fat Robert is entitled to whatever obtuse says. <insert sarcastic banana>

[Fat Robert]

So I think I'll form my own opinion on him and assume loose cannon until proven otherwise. >

see...that's just it...I'm a wussie who assumes he's reasonably normal...roy(s) a tough guy who assumes vdb is a nut case...since niether of us know anything, our assumptions are equally invalid...its like Rush said (christ, I'm quoting Limbaugh...I am now a useless idiot)...arguing on the internet is like the special olympics -- if you win, you're still retarded.

[Roy E. Munson]

arguing on the internet is like the special olympics -- if you win, you're still retarded

One of my favorite quotes - good 'un.

[Fat Robert]

this is a special forum, in so many ways, yo....