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Simeoni blasts Armstrong return

By VeloNews.com
Published: Nov. 8, 2008
Armstrong and Simeoni have not had a warm relationship.
Armstrong and Simeoni have not had a warm relationship.
Photo: Graham Watson

Reigning Italian national champion Filippo Simeoni blasted the comeback of Lance Armstrong and said he would have nothing to say to the Texan if the pair ends up racing the 2009 Giro d’Italia.

Simeoni, who had an infamous run-in with Armstrong during the 2004 Tour de France, angrily told Spanish journalist Quique Iglesias that the seven-time Tour champion should have stayed retired.

“I don’t accept or recognize Armstrong’s return,” Simeoni said in an interview with the Spanish daily AS. “A big champion ought to know when to say enough is enough. It looks like he couldn’t stand this time away from the front pages. He says he’s coming back for his foundation, which I honor, but there has to be something else. I suppose it’s to clean his image.”

The 37-year-old Simeoni earned the wrath of Armstrong’s anger when the Italian confessed to taking the banned blood booster EPO and human growth hormones while under treatment and direction from notorious Italian doctor Michele Ferrari during the 1990s.

Simeoni’s confession put extra heat on Armstrong, who staunchly defended his own controversial relationship with Ferrari. Armstrong later called Simeoni a liar in a 2003 interview, a charge that later ended up in the courts.

Armstrong’s anger boiled over during the 2004 Tour, when he chased down an attempt by Simeoni to bridge out to a promising breakaway in stage 18.

Armstrong’s presence with the yellow jersey in the group all but assured the breakaway’s quick death, so under pressure from others in the attack, Simeoni slowly faded back until the main peloton caught up.

Armstrong shadowed Simeoni’s every move and allegedly harassed and insulted Simeoni. Armstrong, meanwhile, said he was “defending the interests of the peloton.”

For Simeoni, it was a crushing moment that left him scarred as he tried to continue his career.

“His attitude and his words made me fall into depression. I had confessed that I had doped when I followed the treatment of Dr. Ferrari in the 1990s. I paid my price for confessing,” he said. “Later, (Armstrong) called me a liar and we ended up in the courts. In 2004, I wanted to win a stage at the Tour. I escaped in stage 18 with other cyclists, but he personally took it upon himself to neutralize the escape. It was a threat to me. A lot of my compatriots insulted me when I returned to the peloton. They told me I was an embarrassment and that I dirtied the name of the peloton and spoiled the plate that I had eaten from all of my life.”

Simeoni, however, had the last word, going on two attacks late in the final stage into Paris, forcing Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates from celebrations to chase down the accelerations.

Simeoni raced for Naturino in 2005-06, but has since had trouble finding a team that would risk signing him to a contract. He won a stage at the Quinghai Lake tour in 2005, his last victory before his dramatic win at the Italian national championship in June.

Despite wearing the prized “tricolore” national Italian jersey, no continental or ProTour Italian team has shown any interest in signing him.

Simeoni sees that as a snub going back to his Ferrari testimony and his run-in with Armstrong, who continued to wield influence and engender fear in the peloton even when retired.

“I’m hoping not to retire. I don’t want to because, despite being 37, I don’t want to miss this opportunity to show off my national jersey,” he said. “I’d like to race the Giro one more time. I believe I deserve it.”

Simeoni is still holding out that his current team – the modest Flaminia-Bossini Docce – could receive a Giro invitation. His fans have created a Facebook page to bolster support for Simeoni’s bid to start the Giro.

“We’ve spoken with the Giro organization, but we have doubts that they’ll invite us,” he said. “I have no idea why. It would be the first time in history that the (Italian) national champion cannot compete in the largest race of his country. It’s unacceptable.”

If Flaminia does receive an invite, it would be the first Armstrong and Simeoni will be in the same race since their infamous confrontation in the 2004 Tour.

“I would like to think that Armstrong wouldn’t veto my presence (in the Giro), but everything is possible. I don’t believe in anything anymore,” he said.

When asked what he would say to Armstrong if they do coincide in Venice for the start of the 2009 Giro, Simeoni replied it would be Armstrong who should speak first.

“The minimum that he has to do is ask me for pardon what he did to me. I have nothing to say to him,” he said. “My life carried on since those times. I am proud that I confessed and that I am a clean cyclist.”