Eighteen months ago, at the end of 2022, Frank van den Broek – no, not that one – was a club cyclist, riding for a team who didn’t pay him for competing in their colours. Nothing too extraordinary in that – he was turning 22. Today, though, he is entering his second week of the Tour de France, the greatest and biggest bike race on the planet, and he’s already been instrumental in a stage win, and lead both the points and youth classifications.
“It’s a bit crazy, yep,” the Dutchman tells Cycling Weekly of his rapid rise from dedicated amateur to the sport’s summer breakthrough star in less than two years.
