Michael Rasmussen has joined CDC-Cavaliere, a new Italian team. CDC stands for Centri della Calzatura. Rasmussen is hoping that CDC will be included in the Giro and that this will mark his return to cycling in Europe. Rasmussen was fired from Rabobank during the Tour de France 2007 (the most scandal-plagued Tour in recent memory). Rasmussen was banned for 2 years by the Monaco Cycling Federation which holds his cycling license. The ban expired on 25 July 2009. 

According to an article in Het Laatste Nieuws or HLN (a Belgian paper - a bit too sensationalist for my taste), Frank Vandenbroucke's ex-wife, Sarah Pinacci, suffered from Vandenbroucke's drug habit and his violent outbursts. What began as a fairy tale wedding ended in tragedy. She had to divorce him after many years of violence. The article claims also that Vandenbroucke attempted suicide, that he was almost broke at the end (having squandered the money that he earned during his successful cycling career). He leaves behind a daughter (Margaux). 

See the HLN article (in Dutch, with photos of Frank and Sarah and their daughter during happier times).

NOTE: this story is told from the point of view of Vandenbroucke's former wife. Still it is a very sad one and it does not take away from Vandenbroucke's tremendous talent and his achievements.

There's another HLN article claiming that there is a close relationship between lung embolisms and EPO. Again, one must always question these articles. 

Frank Vandenbroucke, one of the stars of Belgian cycling in the 1990s, has died of a lung embolism while he was on holiday in Senegal, according to the Belgian station RTBF. Vandenbroucke won Paris-Brussels in 1994, the Tour of Austria and the Scheldeprijs in 1996, the Tour of Luxembourg in 1997, Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Nice in 1998, and in 1999 Luik-Bastenaken-Luik and two stages of the Vuelta a Espana.

Vandenbroucke was only 34 years old at the time of his death.