Andy McGrath is the managing editor of Rouleur Magazine. Having previously worked at Cycling Weekly and Cycle Sport, he has also written on cycling for The Guardian and Financial Times. He is the co-author of Official Treasures of the Tour de France, has contributed chapters to several volumes of The Cycling Anthology, and is the author of Tom Simpson- Bird on the Wire, which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2017.
How doping killed cycling's 'golden boy'. A shocking, clear-sighted and sympathetic account of a talent destroyed by drugs. -- Melanie Reid * 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. -- Jonathan Liew * 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. -- Joe Laverick * 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. -- Ben East * 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 *