Armstrong vs. Simeoni feud playing out at the Tour de France today?

[HuckleB]

There's no love lost between Lance Armstrong and Filippo Simeoni.

Simeoni to sue Armstrong for defamation
http://www.loopdiloop.com/folderol/2004/07/cycling-filippo-simeoni-vs-lance.asp

"Italian Filippo Simeoni, who is a key witness in the trial of Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari, has confirmed his intention to take Lance Armstrong to court for defamation at the Tour de France.

Simeoni hopes to take the five-time Tour de France winner to court over comments made in Le Monde in July of 2003, when the American called the current Domina Vacanze rider a "liar" in the French newspaper article.

The Le Monde article quoted Armstrong as saying that Simeoni had "lied" when he told investigators it was Ferrari who showed him (Simeoni) how to use the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) effectively.

..."

In today's stage, it appears that Armstrong refused to allow Simeoni to join and stay with a break group. Armstrong expended a great deal of energy to join the group and pull Simeoni back to the peleton.

"16 H 01 - Simeoni At The Rear Of The Peloton
Since his brief escape attempt early in today's stage Filippo Simeoni has been at the rear of the peloton. The Domina Vacanze rider chased down the six escapees with an attack that began at the 32km mark. Lance Armstrong didn't approve of the move and followed Simeoni. The pair joined the leaders at the 36km mark but, after a discussion with Garcia-Acosta, the two sat up and returned to the bunch at the 46km mark. Armstrong's US Postal team has been at the front of the peloton since, and Simeoni is now maintaining a safe distance from the rider in the yellow jersey.

earlier...

14 H 02 - Armstrong & Simeoni No Longer Working...
Lance Armstrong and Filippo Simeoni are no longer cooperating with the six others in the escape group which is now 2'20" ahead of the peloton.
The yellow jersey has decided to prove that his nickname is justified. 'The Boss' has chased down an escape attempt by Simeoni."

You can read how the whole thing played out at: http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/index.html by clicking on "newsflashes," which gives the typed commentary of how the stage has played out.

So the feud plays out in the race? Very bizarre, though, of course, not for the Tour.

[HuckleB]

1. A Fight! A Fight! A Fight!

:)

[GOPisEvil]

2. Kick his ass, Lance!!!!!

:D

[HuckleB]

4. Actually, this one bugs me a bit in regard to Armstrong.

Simeoni said nothing about Armstrong, and Armstrong has no knowledge of Simeoni's relationship to Ferrari, so how can he call Simeoni a liar, and why would he do so? It's really no different than what those who accuse Armstrong of doping are doing, in my estimation.

Seems bizarre to me.

[GOPisEvil]

5. I dunno...I have no clue...

I'm just tired of the haters. :-)

[HuckleB]

6. Actually, when one considers everything.

There are very few.

And, on this one, Lance started it, so there's no way to call Simeoni a "hater."

[GOPisEvil]

7. But they get a lot of coverage.

For a bunch of people with only rumor and innuendo and very little in the way of facts, it seems disproportionate to the coverage they receive.

[HuckleB]

8. Not really.

I'm all over the various cycling publications every day, and there's really very little about those issues covered there. Sure, our mainstream press jumps on those stories a bit because they can hype them and they involve Armstrong, who is the only cyclist most of them even know, outside of Ullrich playing the foil, which is quite pitiful. And, yeah, there is Le Monde, but even there, we're talking about a couple of pieces over the past month. And I check out Velo in French at a local news stand, and I haven't seen nary a piece on Armstrong that even refers to doping. And that's the premier news outlet for cycling in France.

[GOPisEvil]

9. Well, that's good news then.

I'm looking forward to this year's party here in Austin. :-)

[HuckleB]

3. Juan Miguel Mercado wins stage 18 in a classic, expected breakaway.

[HuckleB]

10. McEwan's Green Jersey looking fairly safe.

Thor close in by one point today, but he's still 11 points back, and that's probably too much to make up on the last day.

[HuckleB]

11. I was afraid that it was Lance going overboard. A sad day for cycling.

I've lost a lot of respect for Lance Armstrong today. This is a sad day for those of us who love cycling. If this is "protecting the peleton" and "saving cycling," then it's clear that Armstrong and others have skewed their view of the sport that has given them so much. Simeoni goes to court under oath and Armstrong doesn't like what he has to say? Ooops. How do you know Simeoni is lying? You don't. You have become what you way you hate, Lance.

Pitiful.

Armstrong swats Simeoni out of winning break

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/news/articles/6653.0.html