Having been ousted by the cycling community after his positive test for EPO at the 2013 Giro d'Italia, Mauro Santambrogio is ready to return to racing. The Italian has signed a contract with the continental Amore e Vita team.
Mauro Santambrogio is set to return to racing. The Italian whose suspension expires in a few days, has signed a contract for next year with Ivano Fanini's Amore e Vita team. Fanini is famously known for giving new opportunities to riders with a tainted past.
After working with the Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC), Santambrogio's ban was reduced by six months which will allow him to return to racing from the start of the coming season, trying to redeem himself in the professional peloton.
"The goal is to make him a reborn rider. If you are good, you will be able to do big things but it was all just a bluff, you will ultimately have to leave the sport," Fanini told Gazzetta.it. "The main reason for working with this team is to fight aginst doping. For us, this is more important than winning be races and Mauro will be our symbol. If we succeed in restoring not only the man but also the athlete and showing that you can achieve results without doping as we have done in the past with many others, it will be our greatest achievement and our mission will be accomplished. Santambrogio was born with a talent beyond measure. It was given to him by Mother Nature and I am sure that he will be able to excite Italy and the world as he did that day on Jafferau (where he won a stage during the 2013 Giro, ed.)"
Santambrogio wants to make a clean slate.
"I was wrong, I suffered a lot, I struggled to find a way out, but I finally found the courage to redeem myself. Now a new life begins for me. I start from scratch and want to prove that I can win clean," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Santambrogio tested positive for EPO after the first stage of the 2013 Giro d'Italia but the results of the test only came out after the end of the race in which he had won a stage and finished 9th overall. The Italian was fired by the Neri Sottoli team and was close to committing suicide a few months after his downfall. A quick reaction from the cycling community played a role in saving Santambrogio's life and now the Italian is set to return to the peloton in 2015. A clause will allow him to leave the team if he is signed by a WorldTour or pro continental team.
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