DEKKERFAN

In this day and age it is just too difficult to race effectively in two Major tours and Simoni knows that first hand. He is just trying to bait Lance (who knows better) into racing in the Giro so that he will lose in the Tour. Hey, Simoni, if you want a challenge, why don't you just concentrate on the Tour in 2004. You got blown away this year, and not just by Lance.

TriDevil

Seems Simoni is always needing to be yakking about something. I agree with you. If he really wants to be one of the people trying to dethrone lance next year focus on the tour. Drop the giro this year and do everything you can to prepare for the tour. Simoni demolished everyone in the giro, there was plenty of competition there, possibly not as much as the tour but a 7 minute win in a grand tour is impressive none the less. How far was he down in GC at the tour? 1 hour+ wasnt he? Oh well, we'll see what happens next july I guess.

brent_dube

Simoni For Pres 2004!

bac

The Italians would not take kindly to that plan! Seriously, they love their Italian heros, and I'm sure that Simoni want to be a hero to his people. It is le Tour, though ......

bac

Here's what Velonews is reporting:

Italy's Gilberto Simoni, winner of the Giro d'Italia in 2001 and 2003, has challenged five-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong to a Giro-Tour duel in 2004.

Armstrong always focuses his season on the Tour in July. He has never ridden the Giro, which is raced in May.

But at the official presentation of the 2004 Giro route on Saturday, Simoni called on the American to ride both races.

"If Armstrong rode both the Giro d'Italia and then the Tour de France, we'd see how good he really is, for better or worse," Simoni said. "He has said he wants to ride the Giro at least once during his career, and this could be the right moment to do it. Next year the Giro finishes at the end of May, and the hardest stages of the Tour de France are in late July, so he'd have enough time to recover."

The last rider to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year was Marco Pantani in 1998.

Armstrong has won the Tour for the last five years, while Simoni has always struggled in France after racing hard in the Giro.

The 2004 Giro starts with a prologue in the port of Genoa on May 8 and ends in Milan on May 30.

TriDevil

I'm not saying he should drop the giro, its a great race. This years edition was the first grand tour I watched and it got me hooked. I even envision myself as simoni sometimes going up hills! I just dont want to hear simoni get to the tour, get his ass handed to him again and then complain 'well if armstrong had ridden the giro AND the tour...' With the giro slightly biased towards the climbers next year simoni will probably do very well, possibly win it again. Heck, simoni could start dominating the way LA does the tour then would people complain 'well if simoni would ride the classics more then I would have a chance in the giro.' Just my two cents. I like simoni and consider him a good climber and believe he can play with lance in the mountains, dont know about the TT's. But multiple grand tours in one year, with podium aspirations in both, is a very hard thing to do.

roadwarrior

Postal does not ride the Giro because it supports its' Spanish riders. So, it won the Vuelta.

Simoni needs to shut up.

brent_dube

this is a little off topic but... why does it seem like the Spanish riders/teams are always all over the TDF, yet the italian teams/riders seem to hide from the race? Is it just that the Giro is much bigger in Italy than the Vuelta is in Spain?

ohh and here is a link to the official giro 2004 site, if anyone is interested
giro 2004

edwin

I agree with Simoni. I think bicycle racers only racing a few races a year is bad for the sport. Alexanddre Vinokourov and Tyler Hamilton did as well as they did after a long season. I think it is fustrating that you can only see your favorite riders a couple of times a season now, bad for the sport.
Simoni has to ride the Giro, he is Italian, and the Giro is the Italian race.

stridercc

Tyler rode in only a few more races than lance. He just happened to win a bunch he was in. Also 3rd and 4th is still a far cry from winning in the Tour.

-Matt-

wabbit

Bragging like that is part of the game, it's all about psyching the other guy out. It's not like Simoni has no reason to brag, it's not like he's some loser- he's won the giro twice. But it's too bad he didn't do well in the tour and didn't do well when he did the vuelta in 2002. I think that doing the giro before the tour is one thing but winning it is something else. It's not a race to warm up for the tour, and few have managed to pull it off.

There's no doubt, though, simoni is probably one of the best climbers. Far better than armstrong, but I think it's the sweltering heat that does him in. He won this horrendous stage in the giro with snow and ice all over the place, but conked out on the Alpe D'Huez.

stridercc

How many people have talked crap about lance???? How many have beat him??? Now how many people has lance talked crap to. Let your legs do the talking. These are the best of the best. When was the last time one of them got phsyiced out by talk? Talking smack is only going to paint a big target on your back. Let your legs do the talking.

-Matt-

Walter

2 GC podiums in one season? Many seem to rule it out as not realistic in the "modern era." Pantani's double wasn't that long ago but there's a justifiable cloud hanging over it. Just a couple of years ago Beloki had podium spots at the Tour and the Vuelta but he didn't win either of them. Still a heck of a season when everyone around here was dissing him for a poor attack on LA in the Tour.

I've long thought that LA's competitive season should be longer than July but there's no denying his phoenomenal success and he certainly shouldn't change his program just b/c Simoni is running his mouth.