Filippo Simeoni (born 17 August 1971) is an Italian former racing cyclist and the 2008 Italian road race champion. Simeoni won two stages in the Vuelta a España in 2001 and 2003, and the 2008 Italian National Road Race Championship.
Biography
He was born in Desio in the province of Milan.
Simeoni is known for his maverick actions. During the stage win in the Vuelta he stopped just before the finish line and walked across the finish line with his bike in his hands. He did so as a tribute to the victims of the 11 September 2001 attacks. Later the Union Cycliste Internationale fined him for this.
In May 2009 he returned his Italian Championship jersey as a protest after his team was not invited to the 2009 Giro d'Italia.
Following his retirement, Simeoni started organizing local races and set up a youth team. In early 2017, he was set to take up a position within the Italian Cycling Federation but was forced to withdraw due to a rule preventing anyone with a doping offense from taking office. The federation was unable to take into account that Simeoni's sentence came in the light of a confession during the court cases against Michele Ferrari.
Feud with Lance Armstrong
Simeoni is better known for his years-long clash with Lance Armstrong. Simeoni was treated by doctor Michele Ferrari, who was also Armstrong's doctor. Simeoni testified in court that he began doping in 1993, that Dr. Ferrari had prescribed him doping products such as EPO and Human Growth Hormone in 1996 and 1997, and that Ferrari also gave him instructions on how to use these products and that he used them. In 2001 and 2002 Simeoni was suspended for several months for doping use. Armstrong reportedly called Simeoni a "liar" in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde in July 2003. Simeoni lodged a charge of defamation against Armstrong and demanded €100,000. Simeoni announced that he would give any money awarded to him to charity. In 2006 Simeoni dropped the lawsuit.
On the 18th stage of the 2004 edition of the Tour de France, Simeoni gapped up to a breakaway of six riders that posed no threat to Armstrong's leading position. By then, Armstrong was leading the race by seven minutes, and was well on his way to his sixth consecutive Tour victory. Nevertheless, Armstrong broke from the peloton and chased Simeoni down, prompting Armstrong's rival T-Mobile Team to try to catch the breakaway. This would not only catch Simeoni, but end any realistic chance of the six riders in the original breakaway had of winning the stage. The six riders implored Armstrong to drop back to the peloton, but Armstrong would not drop back unless Simeoni went with him. Armstrong's longtime top domestique, George Hincapie, later recalled being surprised at Armstrong's move, given his all-but-insurmountable lead. Simeoni subsequently told the United States Anti-Doping Agency that Armstrong told him in Italian:
Armstrong then spoke to some of the other riders in the breakaway. It later emerged that Armstrong told them that he would not allow the breakaway to survive as long as Simeoni was part of it. At that point, the other riders badgered Simeoni until he dropped back to the peloton with Armstrong. Afterwards, Armstrong made a "zip-the-lips" gesture but later said that Simeoni "did not deserve" to win a stage. Armstrong said he was acting under the traditional authority granted to the "Patron" of the peloton by the unwritten rules of cycling. He claimed that he was "protecting the interests of the peloton," and that Simeoni was out to "destroy the sport that pays him." On 6 March 2006 Armstong's attorney asked a court to drop charges in Simeoni's defamation lawsuit. On 13 April 2006 Simeoni dropped the defamation suit and Armstrong dismissed his countersuit.
Like Christophe Bassons six years earlier, Simeoni's career suffered after his confrontation with Armstrong. He found it hard to catch on with a team. The final straw came in 2009, when his team was left out of the 2009 Giro d'Italia even though he won the 2008 Italian National champion Road race. In protest, Simeoni returned his 2008 Italian Championship jersey in May 2009. He was suspended for four months by the Italian Cycling Federation for doing so. He retired at the end of the 2009 season.
Simeoni was played by Belgian former professional cyclist Kevin Hulsmans in the 2015 film The Program.
Major results
;1994
: 5th Overall Baby Giro
;1996
: 7th Subida a Urkiola
;1997
: 5th Overall Giro del Trentino
;1998
: 3rd Giro del Veneto
: 6th Trofeo dello Scalatore
;2000
: 1st 20px Overall Regio-Tour
::1st Stage 2
: 1st Stage 1 Tour de Luxembourg
: 3rd Coppa Agostoni
: 4th Coppa Placci
: 10th Giro del Lazio
;2001
: 1st Stage 18 Vuelta a España
;2003
: 1st Stage 19 Vuelta a España
: 2nd Firenze–Pistoia
;2004
: 1st Stage 5 Tour of Austria
: 3rd Coppa Placci
: 4th Tre Valli Varesine
: 7th GP Industria & Commercio di Prato
: 8th Trofeo Melinda
;2005
: 4th Overall Tour of Qinghai Lake
::1st Stage 2
: 8th Trofeo Matteotti
;2008
: 1st 20px Road race, National Road Championships
: 5th Trofeo Matteotti
: 8th Overall Brixia Tour
: 10th Overall Euskal Bizikleta
See also
- List of doping cases in cycling
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences