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Friday's EuroFile: Ullrich crashes in training: Armstrong faces trial in defamation case
Jan Ullrich's bid to upstage six-time champion Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France got off to a bad start Friday when the T-Mobile rider crashed into a team car during training.
The 1997 Tour winner was training with his team when he failed to spot a warning to brake and slammed into the car's back window.
The five-time runner-up sustained minor cuts and scratches to his neck, but will start Saturday's time trial from Fromentine to Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile.
“He did not see the special sign we make when the car has to brake,” T-Mobile press officer Luuc Eisenga said by telephone. “The window is smashed. But it's nothing serious. He'll be okay to start the race.” –The Associated Press
Armstrong faces trial in defamation case
Lance Armstrong has been summoned to appear in a Paris court next year on charges of defaming fellow professional cyclist Filippo Simeoni, a legal source said on Friday.
The trial for the Texan, who begins his bid for a record seventh consecutive Tour de France title on Saturday, will not start until March 2006.
Parisian judge Thomas Cassuto charged Armstrong with defamation in March following a complaint in 2003 from Simeoni regarding the American's comments published by the newspaper Le Monde on April 18 2003.
The Discovery Channel rider described Simeoni as an "absolute liar" following Simeoni's testimony at a February 2002 trial against Dr. Michele Ferrari, who was accused of having distributed and administered banned substances to several elite riders.
The Bologna court sentenced Ferrari on October 1 of last year to a one-year suspended sentence for sporting fraud and abusing his position as a doctor. However, Ferrari was not found guilty of distributing dangerous doping products.
Ferrari had been advising Armstrong since 1995, something the rider had never denied despite the controversy surrounding the doctor. –Agence France Presse
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