Stefan Schumacher

Stefan Schumacher
Schumacher at the 2015 Brabantse Pijl
Personal information
Full nameStefan Schumacher
Born (1981-07-21) 21 July 1981 (age 43)
Ostfildern-Ruit [de], West Germany
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider type
  • All-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)
Medal record
Representing  Germany
Men's road bicycle racing
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Stuttgart Men's road race

Stefan Schumacher (born 21 July 1981) is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Schumacher won the bronze medal in the road race at the 2007 UCI Road World Championships, 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 before retiring in 2017.

Career

[edit]

First professionally employed with Team Telekom in 2002, he was released the following year. In 2006, he made his UCI ProTour debut with 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.

Gerolsteiner (2006–08)

[edit]

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 road race at the 2007 UCI Road 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. Following a rule change in 2004 amphetamines were no longer on 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 favourite 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]

Doping suspension

[edit]

On 6 October 2008 the media reported that Schumacher had tested positive for the controlled substance continuous erythropoietin receptor activator (CERA), a new generation of erythropoietin (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 was likely to take disciplinary action,[4] however Schumacher continued to assert his innocence and believed he was eligible to ride in the 2009 season and having a contract with Quick-Step. Quick-Step manager Patrick Lefevere stated that Schumacher's contract would not be honored.[5]

On 19 February 2009 Schumacher was banned for two years by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).[6] In January 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced Schumacher's ban, allowing him to ride again as from 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.[9] Schumacher was disqualified after these positive tests; he appealed against this to CAS, but dropped his appeal in April 2010.[10]

Post-suspension

[edit]

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

[edit]

Source:[14]

2001
5th Rund um den Henninger Turm U23
2002
8th Overall Peace Race
1st Young rider classification
10th Overall Niedersachsen Rundfahrt
1st Young rider classification
2003
9th Overall Niedersachsen Rundfahrt
2004
1st Druivenkoers Overijse
1st Mountains classification, Sachsen Tour
1st Mountains classification, Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
2nd Overall Jadranska Magistrala
1st Mountains classification
2nd Overall Hessen-Rundfahrt
3rd Poreč Trophy
4th GP Triberg-Schwarzwald
5th Rund um Köln
8th Rund um Düren
10th Overall Bayern Rundfahrt
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 6
2005
1st Overall Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt
1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 4b (ITT)
1st Overall Ster Elektrotoer
1st Overall Niedersachsen Rundfahrt
2nd Rund um Köln
2nd Hel van het Mergelland
9th Grand Prix Rudy Dhaenens
9th Veenendaal–Veenendaal
9th Rund um den Henninger Turm
2006
1st Overall Tour de Pologne
1st Stages 6 & 7
1st Overall Eneco Tour of Benelux
1st Young rider classification
1st Prologue
1st Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe
Giro d'Italia
1st Stages 3 & 18
Held after Stages 3–4
1st Stage 4 (ITT) Sachsen Tour
6th Rund um den Henninger Turm
9th Amstel Gold Race
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)
2008
1st Stage 4 (ITT) Bayern Rundfahrt
Tour de France
1st Stages 4 (ITT) & 20 (ITT)
2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
3rd GP Triberg-Schwarzwald
2011
Vuelta a Asturias
1st Stages 1 & 2b (ITT)
3rd Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
4th Overall Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madrid
4th Overall Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran)
1st Prologue & Stage 5
7th Coppa Sabatini
8th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
9th Giro dell'Appennino
10th Coppa Città di Stresa, Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie
2012
1st Overall Tour of China II
1st Prologue & Stage 4 (ITT)
1st Overall Tour de Serbie
1st Stage 3
2nd Overall Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich
2nd Overall Tour of China I
1st Stage 1 (TTT)
3rd Overall Tour de San Luis[a]
5th Rogaland GP
7th Tallinn–Tartu GP
8th Overall Danmark Rundt
8th Ronde van Drenthe
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 Overall Tour of Iran (Azerbaijan)
9th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Promoted one position after Alberto Contador's results were disqualified following his backdated two-year ban in February 2012.[15][16]

References

[edit]
  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".
  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 drops 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. ^ "Stefan Schumacher". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  15. ^ "New winners emerge from Contador's suspension". Cycling News. 7 February 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  16. ^ "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.
[edit]