God is Dead, Andy McGrath
God is Dead, Andy McGrath
List: $14.62 | Sale: $10.23
Club: $7.31

God is Dead
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022

Author: Andy McGrath

Narrator: Rory Alexander

Unabridged: 9 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/10/2022


Synopsis

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

Reviews

Goodreads review by Neil on April 29, 2024

TL;DR - think “Extreme Ownership” but the complete and total opposite. This was as fascinating as I thought it would be when I first heard the story of Frank Vanderbroucke. To give a short synopsis, VDB was raised on cycling, quickly became a prodigy, and then did everything in his power to throw it......more

Goodreads review by Doctor on August 26, 2023

Frank Vandenbroucke was a young cycling phenom. Pro cycling loves its young phenoms, maybe a little too much. Some of them flame out, and others become greats. Vandenbroucke flamed out early, all of his major victories coming before he reached 25 years old. Vandenbroucke was one of the Belgian cyclist......more

Goodreads review by T. on August 27, 2025

For someone who loves riding bikes but is far removed from road racing, this book was an excellent deep dive into the passion and culture of professional cycling. I'm fascinated by European cycling culture and the Tour de France, and this story gripped my inner bike nerd from start to finish. I was......more

Goodreads review by Mike on August 18, 2024

The last two chapters leading up to VDB's death are compelling and deeply sad. Unfortunately all the previous chapters are quite dull. There is excessive detail and almost constant repetition of the same assessment of his character and not particularly well written. VDB was an interesting but obviou......more

Goodreads review by Jack on September 21, 2023

Shocking tale of wasted talent caused by injury and Drug addiction......more


Quotes

How doping killed cycling's 'golden boy'. A shocking, clear-sighted and sympathetic account of a talent destroyed by drugs. The Times

'With his talent, Frank is the Johan Cruyff of cycling. He could win anything.' Eddy Merckx

A stunning biography of this troubled individual. 320 pages of brilliance. Washing Machine Post

Superb. A riveting, warts-an-all dive into a complex, deeply flawed rider and man during professional cycling's lowest ebb. Cycling Plus

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. Guardian

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. Cycling Weekly

Captures the charisma and chaos of Vandenbroucke's short life perfectly. Cyclist

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. The Observer

'I sometimes wonder if he was too intelligent to be a rider. He was a genius.' Patrick Lefevere

'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.' Matthias Declercq