Filippo Simeoni
Overview
 
Filippo Simeoni is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 former racing cyclist and the 2008 Italian road race champion. His most important victories were the two stages
Stage (bicycle race)
In sports, a stage, or leg, or heat, is a unit of a race which has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages are held as an individual time trial or a...

 he won in the Vuelta a España
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

 in 2001 and 2003, and the 2008 Italian National Road Race Championship
Italian National Road Race Championship
The Italian National Road Race Championships are held annually. They are a cycling race which decides the Italian cycling champion in the road racing discipline, across several categories of rider. The event was first held in 1906 and was won by Giovanni Cuniolo. At the beginning there were often...

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He was born in Desio
Desio
Desio is a town and comune in the Province of Monza and Brianza, Italy.-History:In 1277 it was the location of the battle between the Visconti and della Torre families for the rule of Milan. It is also known as the birthplace of Pope Pius XI and the Arsenal goalkeeper, Vito Mannone...

 in the province of Milan
Province of Milan
The Province of Milan : /) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Milan. The provincial territory is highly urbanized, resulting in the third highest population density among the Italian provinces with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, just behind the provinces of...

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Simeoni is known for his "rebellious" 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.
Quotations

Today we saw the real Armstrong.

Said after a stage in the Tour de France. He was in a breakaway, but was caught back by Lance Armstrong, although he was no threat for Armstrong's leading position. Armstrong caught him back because Simeoni accused Dr. Ferrari, the same doctor Armstrong has, of giving him dope.

 
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