Christophe Brandt | |
Fullname: | Christophe Brandt |
Birth Date: | 1977 5, df=yes |
Birth Place: | Liège, Belgium |
Height: | 1.82 m |
Weight: | 65 kg |
Discipline: | Road |
Proyears1: | 2000 |
Proyears2: | 2001–2010 |
Manageyears1: | 2012–2013 |
Manageteam1: | (directeur sportif) |
Manageyears2: | 2014– |
Manageteam2: | (general manager)[1] |
Manageyears3: | 2019– |
Christophe Brandt (born 6 May 1977) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2000 and 2010 for the and teams. He now works as the general manager for UCI ProTeam,[2] and as a directeur sportif for its junior team, UCI Continental team .[3]
Born in Liège, Brandt started his career with, but after one year he transferred to and stayed there for the rest of his career. In the early 2000s he was a good rider in the Grand Tours, like a 14th place in the 2004 Giro d'Italia and 33rd in the 2002 Tour de France. In 2004, he returned a positive test for methadone. He believed the test was a result of a tainted nutritional supplement that he had taken to cure a liver problem. The chemist who had prepared Brandt's prescription confirmed he had been working with methadone on the same day he had prepared Brandt's prescription. This did not satisfy Brandt's team management, who fired him. However, later in the year the Belgian Cycling Federation exonerated Brandt, and his team rehired him. He stayed with them for the remainder of his career before retiring from competition in 2010. After two years with as a directeur sportif, Brandt joined the team in 2014.