24 year-old German Stefan Schumacher has signed a contract with Team Gerolsteiner that will take him through until the end of 2008. "Gerolsteiner is a big deal, it's really a dream that it has worked out," said Schumacher. "I really hope that I can already be successful next year for the team. I train often with Volker Ordowski and Matthias Russ, who are already on the team."
"Stefan fits well into our young team," said Gerolsteiner team manager Hans-Michael Holczer of his new acquisition. "He has a lot of potential, as a rider for the classics as well as for tours. The boy has the talent as well: 10 seconds behind the winner in 15th place in the Amstel Gold Race is no fluke."
Schumacher, from Großbettlingen, rode a great first half of the season in the Shimano-Memory Corp colours, winning several races and taking over the lead in the European Continental Tour. His successes included the overall win in the Ster Elektrotoer, Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt, and three stage wins in the Rheinland-Pfalz-Rundfahrt. But a positive drug test for cathine (norpseudoephedrine) in the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt brought everything to a halt, until Schumacher was able to explain that he took the drug for a pollen allergy while under the impression that it was legal, on the advice of several sports federations.
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