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God is Dead

The Remarkable Cycling Biography - Shortlisted For The William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award

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God is Dead

By: Andy McGrath
Narrated by: Rory Alexander
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

•SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022•

The remarkable untold story of the mercurial cycling prodigy Frank Vandenbroucke, written by William Hill award-winning author Andy McGrath.

They called him God. For his grace on a bicycle, for his divine talent, for his heavenly looks. Frank Vandenbroucke had it all, and in the late Nineties he raced with dazzling speed and lived even faster.

The Belgian won several of cycling's most illustrious races, including Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Paris-Nice and Ghent-Wevelgem. He was a mix of poise and panache who enthralled a generation of cycling fans. Off the bike, he only had one enemy - himself. Vandenbroucke dabbled in nocturnal party sessions mixing sleeping pills and alcohol and regularly fell out with team managers. By 1999 his team had suspended him and this proved to be the start of a long, eventful fall from grace. Depression, a drug ban, addiction, car crashes, divorce and countless court appearances subsumed his life. He threatened his wife with a gun. He tried to commit suicide twice. And when police found performance-enhancing drugs at his house, Vandenbroucke said they were for his dog.

It seemed he had finally learned from his mistakes. Then, on 12 October 2009, aged just 34, Vandenbroucke was found dead in a hotel room in Senegal.

Guided by exclusive contributions from his family, friends and team-mates, William Hill award-winning author Andy McGrath lays bare Vandenbroucke's chaotic, complicated life and times. God is Dead is the remarkable biography of this mercurial cycling prodigy.

© Andy McGrath 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

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Critic reviews

How doping killed cycling's 'golden boy'. A shocking, clear-sighted and sympathetic account of a talent destroyed by drugs. (Melanie Reid)
'With his talent, Frank is the Johan Cruyff of cycling. He could win anything.'
A stunning biography of this troubled individual. 320 pages of brilliance.
Superb. A riveting, warts-an-all dive into a complex, deeply flawed rider and man during professional cycling's lowest ebb.
The fact that we know the tragically opaque ending of this story from the start is what lends such a devastating quality to McGrath's careful biography. Soberly told and with a clear affection for its wayward subject, McGrath's account explores the narcotically corrupting power of sport itself. (Jonathan Liew)
My favourite cycling book of the year... McGrath has penned arguably the most insightful cycling biography to date. It leaves you both questioning how the sport was so dysfunctional while perversely pining for more stories from the doomed era. (Joe Laverick)
Captures the charisma and chaos of Vandenbroucke's short life perfectly.
Frank Vandenbroucke had the world at his pedals in the late 1990s ... but off [the bike] the Belgian lived in a soap opera, a mess of addictions, marital problems and, finally, death. McGrath is a sensitive yet compelling guide through this turbulence. (Ben East)
'I sometimes wonder if he was too intelligent to be a rider. He was a genius.'
'In Belgium, we need heroes, examples. People who don't break, people who release us from our daily mediocrity. People who can fly, who do things that we cannot. VDB on the Saint-Nicolas.'
All stars
Most relevant
Great story of a rider I have never heard of before, great pace to the book also.

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Smile as you remember the great days and wince through Frank’s poor decisions.
The performance is brilliant and very easy to listen to for hours. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the author’s theory of Frank as a genius, and bike racing fans might appreciate mention of Franks contemporaries to put the story into context.
When I checked the ages of some of the riders that I thought of as Frank’s rivals I was amazed that they were all so much older than him.
Highly recommended.

Even super fans will find something new here.

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Frank’s life was awe inspiring, frustrating and tragic. Even as a fan at the time it was hard not to feel it. This is very well captured in the author’s research and writing. Brilliant account of the life and death of one of my favourite pro cyclists ever. Chapeau.

Superb Author

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I already knew a lot about the VDB story, but this book put it all in order and answered some of the questions but the full truth will never be unearthed. Well done to the author for keeping a legend alive. Brilliant narration as well.

Fabulous and tragic. Another genius destroyed by the system

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Great narration.
A stark reminder of the ruthless challenges of fame, and perhaps more importantly the devastating consequences of the addiction spiral.
Learnt a lot about that era of cycling

Fascinating

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