# 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 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)

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.
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.

### 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 Quick-Step. Quick-Step 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 Miche team, and joined Christina Watches–Onfone 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 Gerolsteiner 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 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
    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