Valentino Fois

DanielFriebe
DanielFriebe Posts: 102
edited March 2008 in Pro race
The former Mercatone Uno rider, whose recent comeback with Amore e Vita is documented in the April issue of Procycling, was found dead at his home in Bergamo this morning. A blog on this topic will follow shortly.

Comments

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    That's sad. Is the cause of death known? I doubt I'm alone in thinking it's likely to be drugs related.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    The Italian press say he was found dead at home by his mother, it appears he was ill, ie not a violent death. Apparently he was one of Pantani's helpers, but in recent times had struggled and been convicted for stealing several laptops and sent to prison.

    http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_marz ... 6ba6.shtml

    A sad story, isn't it but perhaps it's best left to his family and the police to comment?
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    andyp wrote:
    That's sad. Is the cause of death known? I doubt I'm alone in thinking it's likely to be drugs related.

    I'd suspect suicide also. There have been a few ex cyclists have run into bad times and picked that route.

    PS: Translating the Corriera de la Serra report into English reveals that Marco Pantani would be called Mark Marshes. Not quite as glamorous
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    Cyclists are some of the worst binge drinkers I've seen. remember completing Manx International one year, among other races and then getting completely hammered afterward..the introduction young riders get to drinking through the extreme life of racing cyling is not good-pure binge drinking for one purpose
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Very sad news.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    I don't know how much of these tragedies are related to their involvement in cycling.

    I'm not saying Fois would be alive had he just gone to work in the local factory instead of being a pro cyclist, more that these tragedies happen every day. They could be truck drivers, under pressure to work long hours and on low wages or farmers suffering a bad harvest, shopkeepers threatened by the mafia. They could be unemployed, Italy suffers from chronic mass unemployment. They could be people surrounded by bad people, just unlucky in life in general. The fact that a few people in cycling get bad habits and their lives end in tragedy doesn't mean too much, it happens to anyone who falls on hard times. Besides, many others doped extensively and live healthy, average lives today, running hotels, bike shops and other small businesses.
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    Dave_1 wrote:
    Cyclists are some of the worst binge drinkers I've seen. remember completing Manx International one year, among other races and then getting completely hammered afterward..the introduction young riders get to drinking through the extreme life of racing cyling is not good-pure binge drinking for one purpose

    You've clearly never met an organic chemist!
    Le Blaireau (1)