Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will go on trial for defamation next year after losing a preliminary hearing against Italian rider Filippo Simeoni on Wednesday.
Italian judge Nicola Insiti decided American Armstrong should go on trial in Simeoni's home town of Latina near Rome on March 7 after he called Simeoni a liar in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde in 2003.
Simeoni had given evidence in 2002 during the trial of Armstrong's former coach Michele Ferrari and said Ferrari had given him doping substances.
Ferrari was found guilty of sporting fraud and illegally acting as a pharmacist on October 1, 2004, but has appealed against the verdict.
"The judge decided that even though Armstrong's comments were published in France the act of defamation against Simeoni occurred when Simeoni read the newspaper via the internet," the Italian rider's lawyer Giuseppe Napoleone told Reuters.
Armstrong's lawyer Enrico Nan said he would fight the location of the trial.
The 34-year-old Armstrong will not have to attend the trial but could, under Italian law, face a jail sentence of between one and six years if found guilty.
Simeoni and Armstrong have clashed several times in recent years.
Armstrong was placed under formal investigation in August 2004 for 'private violence' against Simeoni after he chased the Italian down during stage 18 of the 2004 Tour de France.
But that investigation was closed earlier this year.
