German Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) on his way to a stage victory (Image credit: AFP)
Stefan Schumacher has a "clear conscience" and continued to claim that he has not doped. He announced that he will sue the French National Anti-Doping Agency AFLD for slander and apply for his licence from the German federation, saying, "I will fight for my rights!"
Schumacher said that he was tested 14 times at the Tour 2008, with 10 urine tests and 4 blood tests. "All results were negative. All of them!"
All of them, that is, except for two, according to the AFLD. But that is not possible, for any number of reasons, Schumacher said. For each doping control the A sample was analyzed and found negative. But then these A samples were tested again and found to be positive. "I ask myself: What A samples? They were sealed and analyzed. There were no second A samples from the same days."
In addition, he noted, an A sample, once it has been evaluated, can only be re-examined for research purposes. For those reasons, Schumacher noted, he wants a full and complete protocol of the testing, as he questions the whole procedure.
He will also apply for his 2009 license from the German cycling federation, Bund Deutscher Radfahrer (BDR), because "there is so far nothing against me at the relevent federations. Neither the international federation UCI nor my home federation, the BDR."
Schumacher's attorney, Michael Lehner, said that there is no reason for the BDR to deny the license. "If there is an application for a license, we will then have the facts examined and then make a decision," BDR general secretary Martin Wolf told the dpa press agency.
Lehner also indicated that he was prepared to go to court to force Team Quick Step to honour its 2009 contract with Schumacher. The Belgian team announced his signing in September but declared the contract void after the announcement of the positive tests.
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Schumacher also criticised his former team manager Hans-Michael Holczer, who he says took credit for the rider's successes at the Tour. "But after the announcement of the charges, he has not once personally contacted me. Quite the opposite: he sent the prosecutors after me, including a search of my house."
