Simeoni suspended four months

Italian Champion Filippo Simeoni (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce)

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Italian sanctioned for returning national championship jersey in protest

Filippo Simeoni has been suspended for four months by the Italian Cycling Federation for returning his 2008 Italian Championship jersey in protest in May.

Simeoni was protesting the exclusion of his team Flaminia-Bossini from the Giro d'Italia. "It is unacceptable that, despite being among the top 10 teams in the ranking of Europe Continental Tour and [having] received the wild card Label, our team is systematically excluded from most major competitions for the benefit of other teams that will not be more competitive than us," he said.

In announcing the suspension on Wednesday, the federation did not say when it would start or end, or why the return of the jersey was found to be a violation.

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