Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke

Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke with Marc Madiot (left)

Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke (born May 31, 1955 in Mouscron ) is a former Belgian cyclist .

Vandenbroucke was a time trial specialist who was able to achieve numerous victories, especially in short individual time trials , the so-called prologues at the start of a stage race . In his 14-year career, which began in 1975 and ended in 1988, Vandenbroucke celebrated a total of 74 victories.

His nephew Frank Vandenbroucke was also a successful professional cyclist. His son Jean-Denis was a professional from 1998 to 2000, but could not celebrate any success.

Career

After winning the Belgian amateur championships in 1974, Vandenbroucke turned professional in 1975. After a few successes in his first year as a professional, he achieved his first victory in a well-known race at the Grand Prix de Fourmies in 1976 . He repeated this success the following year. Due to his qualities as a time trial, Vandenbroucke secured the bronze medal in the single pursuit at the 1978 track cycling world championship . A year later he won the Grand Prix de Fourmies for the third time.

In 1980 the Belgian made his big breakthrough after winning the Four Days of Dunkirk including a stage win and the Grand Prix des Nations . He also won a stage near Paris-Nice and won the Trofeo Baracchi , a pair time trial , together with his compatriot Alfons De Wolf . A year later he won the Tour de l'Oise , before his greatest triumph, the victory at Paris – Tours , followed a year later .

In 1983 Vandenbroucke won the GP Eddy Merckx and the GP d'Isbergues . He also achieved numerous victories in other stage races. In 1984 he repeated the result of 1978 in the track cycling world championship in the single pursuit. The following year Vandenbroucke won the Three Days of De Panne and the Four Days of Dunkirk .

After a relatively unsuccessful year in 1986, he then succeeded in 1987 winning the opening prologue of the Vuelta a España , which put him in the yellow leadership jersey. His last victory came on the fourth stage of the Tour of the Mediterranean in 1988.

After finishing his active career, Vandenbroucke remained loyal to cycling and was sporting director in the Belgian Lotto team from 1988 to December 1999 . After eleven years of working together, they separated because the financial ideas of Vandenbrouckes and the sponsor diverged too far.

In May 2000, the Walloon native was targeted by Belgian doping investigators. After a house search, prosecutors brought charges against him of financial irregularities and doping-related offenses. Vandenbroucke then stated that there had been premium payments to the drivers that had not been officially booked. However, he rejected the allegation of supporting doping offenses.

His career as a sports director was relatively short. In 1989 he was hired by the Lotto team, but was dismissed shortly before the start of the 2000 season due to unsuccessfulness.