I copy this from DPF, post by sweatpea. Very,very interesting..all about his drugs....6 month ago he deny like Pantani ending.........
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Translated from Gazzetta dello Sport September 14th, 2007:
Fois tells his story: My life between cocaine and depression.
Fois: " Cycling has reduced me to this, but without cycling I don't know how to live"(not exact translation, but along the lines of damned if I do, damned if I don't). Fois is seated at a table in a bar in the centre of Bergamo, a few metres away from the offices of "Giorno" a local paper where last Monday evening, the ex-rider broke in to rob two laptop computers. A stupid caper that initially came with a 100 day prison sentence but was reduced to a fine of 4000 euros. Valentino was talented like other riders and was tempted by the doping culture, finally crushed by the collateral effects. To see him today, he seems like the boy of ten years ago, slightly thinner, but elegant. Jacket and tie, pinstriped pants, the beautiful "ladykiller" face. But, you only have to see his forced smile, the sadness in his eyes to see that underneath the designer clothes there is a young man of 34 years that is fighting a battle that is devasting him.
Valentino, let's start with the attempted robbery.
"Monday night I started drinking after not having a drink in a long time, the roostertails mixed with tranquilizers left me confused. I entered the office, I hid in the bathroom, then I tried to escape with the computers. It was a stupid bull#### thing to do, but I didn't spend one hour in prison because the judge was understanding.
Are you sick?
"I have problems with anxiety and depression, I'm getting drug treatment at a centre in Parma."
Where do you think your problems started?
"After being suspended for doping in 2002, while I raced for Mercatone Uno with Pantani."
In '98 you were also suspended for a year for being found positive in the Tour of Switzerland and the Tour of Poland. What substances were you taking?
"I was taking, actually, they were giving me DHEA which stimulates the production of endogenous testosterone. Also...it's useless to give you the list. I took what everyone else was taking. And if someone denies it, they're lying. We had to make compromises.
But you didn't need to take any of that. You became a professional in '96 and were considered a formidable
climber.
"I had just won the junior national champions jersey and dominated the Giro della Valle d'Aosta (considered the juniors most challenging mountain stage race). I had done great things in mountain biking. I arrived at the professional level, totally clean. The cleanest. I won because I was the strongest. I was, and I felt at the moment that I was number one in the world."
Why did you succumb to the tentation of doping?
"The world of cycling , up until the Festina scandal in '98 was disgusting. It was managed by all the medical personnel and the sporting directors..then things seems to get a little better, but I wouldn't put my hand on the fire and swear to the cleanness of any rider today. Todays winner is biting the dust next week."
Is there anyone from the cycling world that has helped you?
"Only one. It's a false, hypocritical world. I prefer to be alone with my problems rather than be involved with duplicitous people. I have my family and one true friend, Pavel Tonkov, winner of the Giro in 1996.
I live with him six months of the year in Madrid, and he might help me return to the peloton. Otherwise, I will work in the hotel that he's opening up in Cordoba."
And you still want to return to this world that you consider the root of your problems?
"I never stopped training, I train 3 to 4 hours daily. While suspended, I participated in many Granfondos (races that pros and the average cyclist can participate in) I won 14 out of the 16 I participated in. Eventually, even at those races I was made to feel unwelcome. I miss racing."
Have you taken other drugs?
"I've tried cocaine. But, I'm not an addict. I'm just a frail young man."
What are you actually doing now?
"I'm not working. I study: philosophy, psychology, I know everything about the eastern religions."
Are you aware of all the gossip swirling about you?
"that I was Inzaghi's lover, that I procurred cocaine for Bobo Vieri. Rubbish. I knew Pippo and Bobo when they were playing (soccer) for Atalanta (Bergamo) and we used to frequent the same places. I haven't seen nor heard from them in years."
Aren't you afraid of ending up like Pantani?
"I witnessed Marco's drama first hand and I can say that I've never reached his level of desperation."
What advice would you give to a young rider starting out?
" Stand steadfast, stay true to yourself and don't let the system overwhelm you. My only regret is that I didn't give the best of myself to my work, I'd like a chance to make up for it."
As a postscript to this interview done back in the fall, Valentino did get signed to Ivano Fanini's Amore e Vita's squad. He was supposed to race April 1st. Fanini was in tears making his statement to the media.
He had seen Fois regain his desire to race and was training nicely and Valentino was actually checking out a new car to buy.
I think what is most heart rendering about his story is that he himself lived the omerta of the peloton, was caught, but repeated the mantra...." I only did what everyone else did"...
It seems only the driven and strong survive this system because the rewards are too alluring: money, fame, a great palmares...immortality in the pantheon of cycling. If you're fragile like Pantani, you get eaten alive, and thrown to the dust bin.
I can relate to his struggle with depression on a personal level...it's a dark beast that is very oppressive.
I wonder who if any of his old team mates, soigneurs, mechanics, sporting directors will go to his funeral?
Or will he just be forgotten because he couldn't play the system.
