Cinelli Down Under and VDB

25 May 2009

Many of you know Cinelli for their presence at the intersection of the art world and track bike culture. And hopefully for collaborating with us on a frameset. But like most Italian bike makers, their roots are in racing and they continue to be involved in competition as the title sponsor of the Cinelli-Down Under team.

It’s a Belgian-run team featuring a number of Australian riders. Nico Mattan, who was a pro for 15 years on major teams like Lotto, Mapei, Cofidis, and Davitamon-Lotto is the directeur sportif and brought into the program none other than his old friend Frank Vandenbroucke. Here’s Frank with Cinelli’s Antonio Colombo and the MASH x Cinelli bike (coming soon).

For those of you who don’t know VDB, he was once considered perhaps the greatest talent of his generation, a rider who could win one-day Classics like Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well as stage races like Paris-Nice. Check out this stage finish from the 1999 Vuelta; VDB attacks the lead group with about 1500m to go and he could have won by 20 seconds if he hadn’t sat up.

Then again, he was dirty. Frank has been involved in multiple doping scandals, and famously told police that drugs found in his house were for his dog. He’s also had serious issues with drug addiction and mental illness outside of his racing career.

I always enjoyed watch Frank race. He rode aggressively with total confidence in his abilities, and looked as perfect and natural on the bike as anyone who’s ever ridden. His best days are well behind him but hopefully he can finish his career on a clean, positive note.

-Josh Kadis