Stefan Schumacher

Stefan Schumacher
	Stefan Schumacher at the German Road Cycling Championships 2015
To person
Date of birth	21st July 1981 (age 39)
nation	Germany
discipline	Street
End of career	2017
doping
2008	EPO (CERA)
Team (s)
2002–2003 ; 2004 ; 2005 ; 2006–2008 ; 2010–2011 ; 2012–2014 ; 2015 ; 2016 ; 2017	T-Mobile ; Team Lamonta ; Shimano-Memory Corp ; Gerolsteiner ; Miche-Guerciotti ; Christina Watches-Onfone ; CCC Sprandi Polkowice ; Christina Jewelry Pro Cycling ; Kuwait–Cartucho.es
Most important successes
	Circuit Cycliste Sarthe 2006 ; 2 stage wins Giro d'Italia 2006 ; ENECO Tour 2006 ; Amstel Gold Race 2007 World Championship 2007;
	Last updated: February 5, 2016

Stefan Schumacher (born July 21, 1981 in Ostfildern - Ruit ) is a former German cyclist who is now active as a triathlete .

Career

Beginnings and training

The son of a doctor played football in his youth at FV 09 Nürtingen and also pursued cycling as a hobby in a club. According to Schumacher, the real passion for cycling was awakened in 1995 when he watched the fifth Tour de France victory of the Spaniard Miguel Indurain on television .

Schumacher lives in Nürtingen . In 2000 he graduated from the Hölderlin-Gymnasium there .

Schumacher during the decisive attack on the final climb of the Lower Saxony Tour 2005

Schumacher at the award ceremony of the Lower Saxony Tour 2005 in Sankt Andreasberg

Professional career since 2002

Schumacher began his professional career in 2002 with Team Telekom . Since he was injured frequently in 2003 and was unable to achieve any success, he switched to the GS III Team Lamonta for the 2004 season . There he was u. a. Second in the German cycling championships behind Andreas Klöden . In 2005 he switched to Shimano-Memory Corp and won the Lower Saxony Tour and the Ster Elektrotoer . When ProTour -race Amstel Gold Race he reached a 16th place.

In 2006 Schumacher switched to the Gerolsteiner team . He won the five-day Circuit Cycliste Sarthe tour . On May 8, 2006, he won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia , making him the seventh German ever to take over the pink jersey of the overall top rider. On May 25, he won another stage, the 18th stage, after winning the sprint of a five-man breakaway group. With the Eneco Tour (formerly Benelux Tour) he just won another multi-day tour in August with the help of the time bonus for third place in the final sprint of the last stage. What was controversial, however, was Schumacher's strong swing 100 meters from the finish line, which caused the overall leader of the classification, George Hincapie , to fall with three seconds and this was caught by Schumacher's four-second bonus. Despite protests from the American Discovery Channel team around George Hincapie, the racing jury declared Stefan Schumacher not guilty because he had to avoid a fan who had leaned too far over the gang during his dangling. Only a few weeks later he won the overall ranking of the Tour of Poland and was able to win the last two stages. At the end of the season he was tenth in the overall ranking of the UCI ProTour 2006 .

In his second season with the Gerolsteiner team in 2007, Stefan Schumacher celebrated his greatest success to date by winning the Dutch one-day classic Amstel Gold Race , where he crossed the finish line ahead of his teammate Davide Rebellin . At the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart near his home, Schumacher achieved another great success with the bronze medal in the road race . On June 27th, Schumacher was second behind Bert Grabsch at the German championships in the individual time trial. On July 8th, he won the 4th stage of the Tour de France in the individual time trial in Cholet and thus also took over the yellow jersey of the overall leader. He was able to defend the yellow jersey a day later on the stage from Cholet to Châteauroux , but then lost it in a fall on the 6th stage 300 meters from the finish after touching the rear wheel of Kim Kirchen , who took over the yellow jersey . On July 26th, he also won the second individual time trial, the 20th stage of the Tour de France, ahead of the reigning time trial world champion Fabian Cancellara and the Luxembourg time trial champion Kim Kirchen. However, these results were deleted due to his doping case .

After the end of his doping ban, Schumacher's comeback with the Italian team Miche-Guerciotti took place in September 2010 . For the third-class Continental team , he finished eighth in the overall ranking of the Settimana Internazionale in 2011 , and on the first stage of the Tour of Asturias , he finally achieved his first victory after the suspension. On this tour he managed another stage victory, and a little later he was able to win two stages of the Azerbaijan tour . In 2012 Schumacher switched to the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone , which was formed around Michael Rasmussen . He achieved victories in tours in Serbia and China .

Doping allegation 2005

Stefan Schumacher at the Tour of Poland 2006 in Karpacz

During the Rhineland-Palatinate Tour on May 14, 2005, Schumacher was tested positive for doping , namely the stimulating agent cathine . However, this was an intake that was justified on the assumption that the stimulating effect would have a soothing effect on the symptoms of a certified pollen allergy (runny nose, asthma) and had previously been classified as harmless by the Dutch anti-doping agency. On August 3, 2005, he was acquitted by the Association of German Cyclists . However, the victory of the tour was revoked.

A blood sample given by Stefan Schumacher five days before the World Championships , on September 25, 2007, showed various elevated values, including a hematocrit value of 50.5%. Schumacher explained this value with a diarrheal illness. For the professional road race at the World Championships in Stuttgart, the cyclist would have had to be given a protective barrier according to the UCI regulations , but this was with reference to a hemoglobin value below the limit of 17 g / dl (measured 16.9 g / dl ) and taking into account the upcoming World Championships and a later test below the critical value of 50% by the UCI and the Association of German Cyclists (BDR) did not happen. So he was allowed to start and took third place. On October 10, 2007, the BDR declared that the urine sample of the professional cyclist was negative.

Immediately after the 2007 World Cup, traces of amphetamines were found in a blood analysis that followed Schumacher's car accident in October 2007 . This did not result in any legal consequences for Schumacher, as the active ingredient is not considered doping outside of the competition.

2009 doping ban

On February 22, 2009, Schumacher was banned from the French Anti-Doping Agency (ADFL) for two years because of a positive doping test for the blood doping agent CERA ( EPO ) at the 2008 Tour de France. This ban initially applied to all races in France. On March 6, 2009, the UCI, the world cycling association, took over the suspension of the French association. In January 2010, the ban was set by the International Court of Justice until August 27, 2010. On April 29, the BDR announced that Schumacher had tested positive for CERA doping during a follow-up check during the 2008 Olympic Games (A sample). The result of the A sample was confirmed in the analysis of the B sample in July 2009. In November 2009, Schumacher was removed from the 2008 Olympic Games result lists. In April 2010 he withdrew his objection to this decision.

In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine at the end of March 2013, Schumacher first admitted taking Epo, growth hormones and corticosteroids. He started taking performance-enhancing substances when he was in his early 20s. Schumacher also stated that some of the sports doctors employed by the Gerolsteiner team at the time coordinated the supply of doping substances. They would also have written wrong prescriptions for pain relievers and cortisone drugs. Schumacher accused the team boss at the time, Hans-Michael Holczer , of having been “very well informed” about all of this, which Holczer had always denied.

In 2013, a fraud trial against Schumacher was brought before the Stuttgart Regional Court . He was acquitted of the allegation of having fraudulently stolen a salary of 151,462.50 euros from his team for three months by means of doping, out of doubts by the court that the Gerolsteiner team management around Holczer knew about doping. The verdict was expected as a German precedent for criminal prosecution of doping professional athletes.

End of cycling career from 2016

In October 2016, he finished his first start in the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:51:25 hours.

In 2017 he started for the Kuwait-Cartucho team and at the end of 2017 he ended his career as a professional cyclist.

Triathlon since 2018

Germany 0 Stefan Schumacher
Personal information
Date of birth	21st July 1981 (age 39)
place of birth	Ostfildern - Ruit
size	183 cm
Weight	68 kg
societies
successes
status
active

Stefan Schumacher has been active as a professional triathlete and trainer since 2018.

At his first start as a triathlete on the Ironman distance (3.86 km swimming, 180.2 km cycling and 42.195 km running) with swimming shortened to 1.9 km, the then 37-year-old was able to take part in the Ironman in Argentina in December 2018 After swimming in Mar del Plata, cycle up to second place. He finished the race after the final marathon with a time of under eight hours (7:48:40) in sixth place and thus qualified for a starting place at the Ironman Hawaii ( Ironman World Championships 2019 ).

Stefan Schumacher is 183 cm tall and weighs 68 kg.