Lance Armstrong has made an impromptu visit to Italy on Wednesday of this week in order to discuss the Filippo Simeoni case with the judge in Lucca, Tuscany. Simeoni claimed that Armstrong intimidated him during a stage of the 2004 Tour de France, when he tried to bridge up to a breakaway and the American chased him down, virtually ordering him back to the bunch or he would make his team chase. The pair became rivals after Simeoni testified in the Dr Ferrari trial, and Armstrong subsequently called him a liar.
Armstrong raced in Paris-Camembert on Tuesday before flying to Italy. According to a report in la Gazzetta dello Sport, he met with judge Giuseppe Quattrocci in Lucca, Tuscany. No details of the meeting were revealed, but Armstrong did say that he was "very civilised, I think that he appreciated my goodwill."
