Frank Vandenbroucke’s Death in Senegal

Frank Vandenbroucke was found dead in a hotel room in Saly, Senegal, on October 12, 2009. The Belgian cyclist was 34 and had arrived the day before for a holiday with his friend and fellow professional rider Fabio Polazzi. Early reports suggested a pulmonary embolism. His family requested an autopsy; his mother, Chantal Vanruymbeke, said they did not yet know what had killed him.

She had spoken to him on Sunday evening. “He was very cheerful,” she told the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, in comments carried by VRT. She was glad, she said, that the family had got their son back that year after a decade that had been difficult at times. He still hoped to distinguish himself in cycling again. His failure to find a new team weighed on him, she said; the holiday was a chance to take stock.

There were substantial victories behind that ambition. Vandenbroucke won Paris-Nice in 1998 and Liège-Bastogne-Liège the following year, aged 24. Before the latter race, he had announced that he would win. He also took two stages of the Tour of Spain in 1999. But his later career was disrupted by doping cases and knee problems.

In 2002, police found banned substances during a search of his home. Images of him in handcuffs circulated widely. He returned to racing and finished second in the 2003 Tour of Flanders. In 2009, he rode for Cinelli; VRT reported that he left in August because he had not been paid. His mother’s account of their last conversation described a rider who had not abandoned the hope of returning to his former level.

The first accounts of his death remained provisional. A pulmonary embolism is a clot that blocks a blood vessel in the lungs, and reports also described medicines found beside his bed. On October 17, AFP reported the autopsy’s conclusion: a double pulmonary embolism and a pre-existing heart condition. Salobe Ngingie, the prosecutor responsible for the investigation in the Thiès region, gave that explanation to Het Nieuwsblad.

The prosecutor also reported injection marks on Vandenbroucke’s left arm and the discovery of a syringe, alcohol and medicines in the room. The autopsy classified the death as natural. Belgian newspapers that had seen its report said Senegalese judicial authorities had authorised the return of his body to Belgium.

His family asked for a private funeral and for the press to stay away. When requesting the autopsy, his mother had put the need for an answer beside its limit: “We want things to be clear. The reality, however, is that we are losing our only son, Frank. No autopsy will bring him back to life.”