Late last night Vini Fantini rider Mauro Santambrogio, currently serving a provisional suspension after a non-negative A-sample test for EPO during the Giro, broke a months’ long Twitter silence to send a chilling two-word message: “Goodbye world”.
Minutes later he responded to Bicisport journalist Enzo Vicennati: “I can’t take it any more.”
Alarmed, and no doubt aware of the psychological problems some athletes have historically suffered, Italian journalist Alessandra De Stefano tried to get in touch with Santambrogio by phone.
He wasn’t answering, but De Stefano eventually got a response by text.
Meanwhile Santambrogio was deluged with messages of support and good wishes via Twitter. Supporters from all over Italy and the world encouraged him to be strong and not to do anything to harm himself.
After a couple of hours, he tweeted: “I have to do it and I will do it to win this race. Thank you.”
The messages continued through the night as word spread that Santmbrogio was, in the words of Alessandra De Stefano “a man alone in the dark”.
This morning, Santambrogio tweeted: “I closed my eyes, I thought about everything I almost did an idiotic thing and I think I would have solved nothing at all, but only brought so much suffering to those around me and who love me.”
“I thank you all for helping me to reflect and saving me.”
Mauro Santambrogio won stage 14 of this year’s Giro d’Italia in dramatic style, attacking with race leader Vincenzo Nibali in appalling weather conditions. However, his A sample from stage one returned a non-negative finding for EPO and he was provisionally disqualified from the race and sacked by his team.
Santambrogio requested a B-sample analysis. The result has not been officially announced but in early September, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the B-sample analysis showed a lower level of EPO traces than is necessary to conclusively prove doping. If that’s the case, it would clear Santambrogio and he would be free to race again.
22 thoughts on “Mauro Santambrogio saved from suicide bid by outpouring of support on Twitter”
Why does it take so long to
Why does it take so long to test the B sample… it’s a rider’s future at stake if the A sample is abnormal but the B sample is okay.
This guy suffered in a way that he shouldn’t have, his team are to blame just as much as the doping agency!!!!
They should have stood by him until the B sample results were known.
Testing the B sample within a day of the A sample, and NOT announcing the results of the A sample would solve this problem immediately.
Awesome strategy. “I have to
Awesome strategy. “I have to do it and I will do it to win this race. Thank you.” Do what? The mind boggles at the potential meanings. Dope? Post public suicide threats?
I hope Lance doesn’t catch wind of this ploy or we’ll all be biting our fingernails till they bleed .
“I have to do it and I will
I read this as meaning keep living and beat the psychological problem he seems to have.
usedtobefaster wrote:
“I have
I read it as he had to end his life, because it was the only way he had any control over the stressful situation he was in.
A cry for help? Maybe, but I don’t doubt it was sincere. If any of you have experienced mental illness, whether in yourself or a close-one, you will know what a desperate situation it can be.
If he doped, I hope he gets his appropriate ban, but I still have sympathy for someone who finds themselves in a position where they feel like they have no other option.
IMHO
Forget everything else, if he
Forget everything else, if he was close to ending his life and the response of other people to his tweet stopped him from doing so, that’s a good thing and I’m pleased that at the end of the day he hasn’t done it. Still a human being.
Attention seeking. Somebody
Attention seeking. Somebody who wants to end their life will do so. He has no place in cycling. He’s a thief, and the wind changed direction many years ago in cycling. He is not the equivalent of Pantani or VDB who arguably fell very hard on their swords when all around them were doing the same thing.
Drama Queen!
Drama Queen!
He didn’t have to cheat to
He didn’t have to cheat to win races did he. Nobody forced him to take EPO or any other banned substance.
A cry for attention as others have said.
You’re right, it is a cry for
You’re right, it is a cry for attention but not for some drama or attention seeking, it’s a cry for help as is very common with people suffering depression and are struggling with suicidal thoughts. Him posting on twitter his intentions doesn’t make it any less real.
I hope you never have someone close to you struggle with mental health if you dismiss those signs as attention seeking.
I’m glad he’s ok.
absolutely agree, some of the
absolutely agree, some of the comments on here make me ashamed to be a cyclist and human being.
Swindaloo wrote:You’re right,
A big +1 to this.
Some of the other comments show a remarkable degree of ignorance. Let’s hope you smug types never find yourselves in a similarly dark place.
Yes, he wants attention …
Yes, he wants attention … I.e. help. If he doped, that doesn’t make him a good athlete. But no one ever deserves to die for it. Anyone who implies so should have a word with themselves.
It’s a SPORT!!! When I think
It’s a SPORT!!! When I think of all the young men and women that fought with all they had to hold onto life, while serving their respective countries only to lose their battle and life, I can find little sympathy for an athlete that has the world at his feet. X(
…..
…..
Mmmm. Twitter MAY have some
Mmmm. Twitter MAY have some benefit then. Good support from Users and what a result. I believe the pressure of dodgy tests must put so much psychological pressure of anyone in sport you wonder if it’s all worth it.
Sadly it seems it will never go away, suppose you just have to think I’m alive and its not all over and life goes on. Life’s harsh.
I have avoided reading this
I have avoided reading this news article after bringing it to the attention of the road.cc crew yesterday morning.
Some of the comments totally appal me, having suffered with depression for the last 17 years, a cry for help is just that, no matter how its done.
He obviously couldn’t get the support he needed in his current situation and knew that the support of random people on twitter would jump to his aid.
There is a LARGE problem in cycling, for whatever reason someone dopes, on their own, as part of the team….etc.
Once caught, they are just dropped like a stone by the team and all those cycling friends around them. There is no support network within the sport to take dopers and council them back onto the right track, even if that’s not in cycling. But to adjust to “normal” life again.
I’m not saying that every doper should be given the chance to turn their lives around, I think of Ricardo Ricco and Lance Armstrong as two who shouldn’t. But you can’t judge every doper by those kind of people’s actions.
That’s all I have to say on it.
DAVE, we need to find a way of showing WHO is clicking LIKE……
Gkam84 wrote:Some of the
I empathize… I really do… I don’t know how old you are but I know my parent’s divorce and subsequent separation have affected me deeply… I hate to ask, but are your parents divorced, too?… You always seem like such a positive person on the forum, it’s kind of surprising you’ve come out with this…
On another note, why would you want this? What if people want to ‘like’ stuff without giving away they ‘liked’ it? I’m ok with not knowing who ‘liked’ what. Why would you want to know?
TBH, I would’ve disabled
TBH, I would’ve disabled comments on this story.
I don’t think it occurred to
I don’t think it occurred to the writer that people would be so callous, wouldn’t have occurred to me!
Whatever his history, well done to people on twitter for not responding to him like the heroes on this page.
To put this in context,
To put this in context, Santambrogio is a victim of his sport as he is a criminal. There are those of you that deny the rampant drug taking still prevalent in the sport, but the reality is that Santambrogio just had the misfortune of getting caught. You could debate the rights and wrongs he personally made leading up to his positive, but he has effectively had his life, reputation and career taken away from him. He cannot blame anyone else, and this is his punishment. However, no human being is without merit, he did not kill anyone and so we should treat his cry for help with compassion, not ignorance and hatred.
Santambrogio is no different from David Miller, Hamilton, Contador or many other pro-cyclists (caught or otherwise). They are drawn into a culture of doping within the sport. The choice becomes dope or be forced out of the sport. Most riders likely resist for as long as they can. But eventually the suspicion that they are using pea-shooters in a nuclear arms race gets the better of them. Then comes the fateful day they make ‘that’ decision and there is no turning back. Getting caught seems like a grave injustice because a) they know many of the other riders are doping and so it is unfair they get caught and b) the sport/culture has itself led them to that point.
I can hear people saying no one forced him to cheat, and this is true, but he is serving his punishment, but it’s not intended to be a life sentence. Perhaps Santambrogio can help to find a way to clean up the sport.
some very c#nty people on
some very c#nty people on here it seems. give the guy a break, its a bit of doping, not like hes gone killing people.
Poor guy. Been through the
Poor guy. Been through the wringer a bit, hope things start brightening up for him.