Mauro Santambrogio saved from suicide bid by outpouring of support on Twitter

Poor guy. Been through the wringer a bit, hope things start brightening up for him.

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.

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.

TBH, I would've disabled comments on this story.

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......

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.

.....

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.

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.

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.

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.

Drama Queen!

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.

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.

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 .

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.