Stefan Schumacher

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 First professionally employed with in 2002, he was released the following year. In 2006, he made his UCI ProTour debut with 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) In 2006 Schumacher, now riding for , 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.

In the 2008 Tour de France, Schumacher, riding as leader of , 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 .

Doping suspension 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. 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, however Schumacher continued to assert his innocence and believed he was eligible to ride in the 2009 season and having a contract with . manager Patrick Lefevere stated that Schumacher's contract would not be honored.

On 19 February 2009 Schumacher was banned for two years by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). In January 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced Schumacher's ban, allowing him to ride again as from August 2010.

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

Post-suspension Schumacher's ban ended in August 2010. He came back to ride for the team, and joined for the 2012 season. 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". He also said that his former team tolerated doping and it became as banal as "having a plate of pasta after training".

Major results Source:

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 Stages 1, 2, 3 & 4b (ITT)

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 Stages 6 & 7

1st Prologue

Giro d'Italia 1st Stages 3 & 18

1st Stage 4 (ITT) Sachsen Tour 6th Rund um den Henninger Turm 9th Amstel Gold Race 2007

1st Stage 4 (ITT) 1st Amstel Gold Race

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 Prologue & Stage 4 (ITT)

1st Stage 3 2nd Overall Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich 2nd Overall Tour of China I 1st Stage 1 (TTT) 3rd Overall Tour de San Luis 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

9th Overall Tour of Iran (Azerbaijan) 9th Gran Premio della Costa Etruschi