Neo-pros to watch out for in 2024: Frank van den Broek - strong when things go uphill
Sebastian Lindner
· 28.01.2024
Frank van den Broek is still a fairly unknown quantity. The name evokes associations. But it was Frank Vandenbroucke who won Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Ghent-Wevelgem, Paris-Nice and stages at the Vuelta a Espana at the end of the 1990s - and later came to a tragic end.
The young Dutchman has nothing to do with any of this, although his path last year was also quite steep. As a junior, not much came together for the now 23-year-old, who was repeatedly set back by injuries. However, it was a cruciate ligament rupture that sparked his enthusiasm for cycling. His parents bought him a bike to get the 12-year-old competition-hungry youngster moving again.
Surprising change in the middle of the season
With single-digit results in junior classics, including sixth place in the Omloop Het Niewusblad, he caught the attention of the Dutch continental team ABLOC in 2022, who signed him for the coming season. But van den Broek didn't stay long. In June, he won the Ronde de l'Oise (2.2) in France. A stage win on hilly terrain also gave him overall victory. This was followed by a strong performance at the Dutch Championships, first with 8th place in the time trial, then 6th place on the road. His solo ride only ended eight kilometres before the finish.
But by this time, Frank van den Broek had already signed a new contract. "I knew early in the year that I would change," he said on the homepage of his new employer, dsm-firmenich PostNL. Only the timing surprised him. He switched to the Dutch development team in the middle of the season after winning a mountain stage of the Qinghai Lake Tour, part of the ProSeries, for ABLOC shortly before his departure.
The reasons for this can only be surmised. Either dsm was worried that someone might snatch the talent away from them after all. Or, more likely: the squad, which was actually at maximum capacity with 30 riders, had a lack of personnel for various reasons. Some of them homemade. Drivers of a similar calibre, such as Marco Brenner, were hardly considered any more. Under contract to his own Devo team, van den Broek - the first rider ever to be brought into the Devo team by dsm, who was no longer eligible to compete for the U23 - was also able to take part in World Tour races as a guest rider without any problems. And after another stage win at the Tour Alsace at the end of July, he was also only travelling with the pros.
"Professor" Frank van den Broek aims for first professional victory
This was no problem for the self-confident and extroverted quasi-pro. "2023 felt like a natural progression for me, but, of course, it happened very, very quickly," van den Broek, nicknamed "Professor", told the team media. Mostly in the helper role, however, further results initially failed to materialise.
But he doesn't want to settle for that in 2024. "Of course, a professional victory in Europe is difficult to achieve, but I would like to have it," said van den Broek. "I'd also like to contribute to some really big successes for the team," he outlined his goals. He will start his season in Oman, where the going is good. The absolute world class is not at the start, which could certainly provide an opportunity to show himself. After that, however, van den Broek is also scheduled for the Omloop Nieusblad and will therefore initially remain true to his two favourite terrains.
Perhaps his first season as a professional will show which one has a better chance of success.
Frank van den Broek
- was born on 28 December 2000
- holds a Dutch passport
- is 1.78 m tall and weighs 70 kg
- previously rode for AW Groep - Swabo (2019 and 2020), HSK Trias - Mooi Jong (2021), Jegg - DJR Academy (2022), ABLOC CT (2023) and the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team (2023)
- will ride for the dsm-firmenich PostNL World Tour team from 2024 and has signed a contract there until the end of 2026
