Stefan Schumacher

Stefan Schumacher (born 21 July 1981) is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Schumacher won the bronze medal in the 2007 Road Race World Championship, two stages in the 2006 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 2008 Tour de France. After positive results on doping products in the 2008 Tour de France and the 2008 Summer Olympics, he received a suspension for two years, later reduced by some months. After his suspension, he came back as a professional cyclist.

Stefan Schumacher
Schumacher at the 2015 Brabantse Pijl
Personal information
Full nameStefan Schumacher
Born (1981-07-21) 21 July 1981
Ostfildern-Ruit, West Germany
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Current teamKuwait–Cartucho.es
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeAll-rounder/Time-trialist
Amateur team
2001Telekom-Jan Ullrich
Professional teams
2002–2003Team Telekom
2004Team Lamonta
2005Shimano–Memory Corp
2006–2008Gerolsteiner
2010–2011Miche
2012–2014Christina Watches–Onfone
2015CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice[1]
2016Christina Jewelry Pro Cycling
2017Kuwait–Cartucho.es
Major wins
Grand Tours
Giro d'Italia
2 individual stages (2006)

Stage races

Eneco Tour (2006)
Tour de Pologne (2006)
Tour de Serbie (2012)
Tour of China II (2012)

One-day races and Classics

Amstel Gold Race (2007)

Career

First professionally employed with Team Telekom in 2002, he was released the following year. In 2006, he made his UCI ProTour debut with Team Gerolsteiner after posting impressive continental circuits results on the UCI Europe Tour.

Schumacher has been involved in a series of controversial incidents during his career. He was implicated in a doping case in 2005 when he tested positive for an amphetamine. His mother, a doctor, had prescribed an asthma medication after failing to find it on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances, and checking with the appropriate Dutch agency. He was cleared by the German cycling federation of a doping offence.

In 2006 Schumacher, now riding for Gerolsteiner, won the Eneco Tour of Benelux by one second after colliding with his main rival George Hincapie in the closing metres of the final stage, when time bonuses were available for the leading finishers. Schumacher claimed he had collided first with a spectator and the race jury accepted his story.

Following his third place in the 2007 world championships in his home town of Stuttgart, Schumacher was arrested for drunken driving. Four months later he revealed that the blood test taken at the time of his arrest had shown traces of amphetamines, whilst denying that he had knowingly taken drugs or had any knowledge of how the positive test had come about. Since a rule change in 2004 amphetamines were no longer on the WADA's out-of-competition banned list; as a result the German federation again exonerated him.

Schumacher at the 2008 Tour de France

In the 2008 Tour de France, Schumacher, riding as leader of Gerolsteiner, won both time trials, beating Swiss favorite Fabian Cancellara, and took the yellow jersey of race leader after the first. After Gerolsteiner was announced to be folding, Schumacher signed a two-year contract with Quick-Step.[2]

On 6 October 2008 the media reported that Schumacher had tested positive for the controlled substance CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), a new generation of EPO, in a blood sample taken during the 2008 Tour de France.[3] CERA was also the drug for which Italian cyclists Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli tested positive during the Tour de France. The German cycling federation is likely to take disciplinary action[4] Schumacher continued to assert his innocence and believed he was eligible to ride in the 2009 season and having a contract with Quick Step, though Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevre has said Schumacher's contract would not be honored.[5]

On 19 February 2009 Schumacher was banned for two years by the UCI.[6] In January 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) reduced Schumacher's ban, allowing him to ride again per August 2010.[7]

In April 2009 Schumacher's name was raised in connection with a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[8] Both his "A" and "B" samples tested positive for CERA at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[9] Schumacher was disqualified after this positive test, and appealed against this at the CAS, but dropped his appeal in April 2010.[10]

Schumacher's ban ended in August 2010. He came back to ride for the Miche team, and joined Christina Watches–Onfone for the 2012 season.[11] In March 2013 Schumacher confessed to doping in an interview with the news magazine Der Spiegel. He stated he started doping in his mid-twenties and used "EPO, growth hormone and corticosteroids".[12] He also said that his former team Gerolsteiner tolerated doping and it became as banal as "having a plate of pasta after training".[13]

Major results

2002
1st Overall Internationale Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt
1st Overall Peace Race
2004
1st Overall Druivenkoers Overijse
1st Stage 6 Bayern–Rundfahrt
2005
1st Overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 4b
1st Overall Ster Elektrotour
1st Overall Internationale Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt
2nd Overall Rund um Köln
2nd Overall Hel van het Mergelland
2006
1st Overall Tour de Pologne
1st Stages 6 & 7
1st Overall Eneco Tour of Benelux
1st Prologue
Giro d'Italia
1st Stages 3 & 18
Held after Stages 3–4
1st Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe
1st Stage 4 Sachsen-Tour International
2007
1st Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt
1st Stage 4 (ITT)
1st Amstel Gold Race
3rd Road race, UCI Road World Championships
4th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 5 (ITT)
2011
Vuelta a Asturias
1st Stages 1 & 2b
Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour
1st Prologue & Stage 5
3rd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
8th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
2012
1st Overall Tour of China II
1st Prologue & Stage 4 (ITT)
1st Overall Tour de Serbie
1st Stage 3
2nd Overall Tour of China I
3rd Overall Tour de San Luis[N 1]
2013
3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
3rd Overall Tour d'Algérie
1st Stage 1
3rd Overall Tour of Estonia
5th Overall Tour de Blida
6th Overall Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich
7th Overall Sibiu Cycling Tour
1st Stage 3a (ITT)
2014
1st Stage 3 (ITT) Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich
1st Stage 3 (ITT) Tour de Beauce
2015
3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
8th Overall Czech Cycling Tour
2016
1st Overall Tour du Maroc
9th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Promoted one position after Alberto Contador's results were disqualified following his backdated two-year ban in February 2012.[14][15]
References
  1. "Stefan Schumacher joins CCC Polsat Polkowice". CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. Bikeradar. "Stefan Schumacher signs with QuickStep". BikeRadar.
  3. "www.cyclingnews.com - the world centre of cycling". cyclingnews.com.
  4. Tour rocked by new positive tests BBC News Monday, 6 October 2008
  5. "Bike World News". Bike World News.
  6. "UCI schorst (eindelijk) Stefan Schumacher" (in Dutch). Sportwereld. 19 February 2009.
  7. Schumacher will not appeal CAS decision, Cyclingnews
  8. "www.cyclingnews.com - the world centre of cycling". cyclingnews.com.
  9. Wilson, Stephen (July 8, 2009). "Backup samples positive for 5 Olympians". Associated Press.
  10. Schumacher srops appeal against Beijing-DQ, Cyclingnews
  11. Schumacher to Christina Watches, Cyclingnews
  12. "Schumacher confesses to doping". Cyclingnews. Future Publishing Limited. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  13. "'Like a Plate of Pasta After Training': German Cyclist Admits Years of Doping". Spiegel Online. Spiegel. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  14. "New winners emerge from Contador's suspension". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 7 February 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  15. "Tour de San Luis (ARG), 23–29 Jan 2012 – General classification: San Luis — San Luis". Union Cycliste Internationale. Infostrada Sports. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
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