[1] Simeoni won two stages in the Vuelta a España in 2001 and 2003, and the 2008 Italian National Road Race Championship.

[2] Following his retirement, Simeoni started organizing local races and set up a youth team.

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.

Armstrong reportedly called Simeoni a "liar" in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde in July 2003.

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.

This would not only catch Simeoni, but end any realistic chance of the six riders in the original breakaway had of winning the stage.

[7] When Simeoni dropped back, he was abused by many other riders, including Andrea Peron, Filippo Pozzato and Giuseppe Guerini.

Armstrong said he was acting under the traditional authority granted to the "Patron" of the peloton by the unwritten rules of cycling.

[12][13] On 6 March 2006 Armstong's attorney asked a court to drop charges in Simeoni's defamation lawsuit.

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.

[5] In October 2012, USADA stripped Armstrong of all seven of his Tour titles and banned from all sports that follow the World Anti-Doping Code for life, effectively ending his competitive career.

Moreover, it found that Armstrong had engaged in "attempted witness intimidation," which was in and of itself a violation of the World Anti-Doping Code.