Stefan Schumacher is the man who can separate the regular cycling fans from the “just following the Tour” fans. There was a huge shock in the news when Schumi took the Yellow Jersey. Who is this German coming from no where? A relative nobody gets to shine in Yellow. Well Stefan Schumacher has quite a few wins including an Amstel Gold win and several small stage races.

American fans of cycling will remember a particular moment when cycling Schumi (not F1 Schumi) robbed George Hincapie from a win at the ENENCO Tour.

In 2006 Schumacher, now riding for Team 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.

Wikipedia Stefan Schumacher

Schumi also had a little problem with Amphetamines last year after the World Championships and was at risk of getting a long ban from the sport and at least losing his job at Gerolsteiner. Instead he received a six month ban that ended in March.

Velonews: Schumacher has his own out-of-competition positive to explain

Schumacher won a TT before in the Tirreno Adriatico in 2007, and was also tipped by Cancellara in a pre TT interview as someone to lookout for in the race. So welcome non-rest of the year cycling fans, we missed you and say hello to Stefan Schumacher.

Schumi (Stefan Schumacher) and Tintin (Davide Rebellin) have been a powerful duo in the last two hilly Classics races. Schumacher has been getting better results since his breakout performance in last years Giro. Amstel Gold is a major win for the young German.

REUTERS/Thierry Roge

Meanwhile teammate Davide Rebellin seems to have found the form of 2004 when he dominated the hilly Classics of the Ardennes. A second place in Amstel behind teammate Schumacher and a win at Fleche Wallonne are very impressive. These are also qualty wins since two former winners are on form and looking for top results. Alejandro Valverde just missed the move to get the win, while Danilo DiLuca had to take third place for the second race in a row.

Here are a few quotes from Rebellin:

“I was lucky because Di Luca and Valverde previously made a joint attack which almost stayed away,” said Gerolsteiner rider Rebellin.

“Fortunately they didn’t manage it and I had the chance to go for it on the final climb.

“The heat was a factor that helped me too. It was almost as hot in 2004 when I last won.”

A dramatic finish in the ENECO Tour (Tour of Benelux) saw Hincapie hit the deck in a controversial finish. George Hincapie looked set to bring home the win after several attacks by Vincenzo Nibali were neutralized. Nibali was seen as the biggest threat even though he was 11 seconds down.

In the final sprint Philippe Gilbert took the win ahead of the pack which saw Stefan Schumacher hook Hincapie. The hook resulted in Hincapie crashing meters from the finish while Schumacher grabbed a four second time bonus that allowed him to take the lead from Hincapie and win the ENECO Tour overall.

Schumi says that he swerved to avoid a spectator, but pictures of the finish show Schumacher and Hincapie with enough room on either side. Schumacher must have swerved violently to cause Hincapie to crash. Regardless, Schumacher must face some sort of penalty for not keeping his line. Instead he was awarded the overall victory.

Schumacher afterwards explained “I started the sprint on the inside, and as I was going along, one of the spectators caught my left arm. I almost fell and my bike swerved to the right.”

Hincapie was upset with the result and almost refused to cross the line. He had some heated words with Schumacher after the finish. The judges ruled that Schumi’s move was OK and Discovery’s protests fell on deaf ears. Regardless of intention, it seems that if a rider does swerve violently in a sprint they should suffer some sort of penalty.

Discvoery will appeal the descision to the UCI.

Velonews: Discovery: We was robbed!

Eurosport

Specialized isn’t putting too much marketing behind the Tour de Georgia especially since Gerolsteiner is not racing there this year.

Specialized has a fairly low-profile presence in Georgia this week. Their only official sponsorship is of KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada, for whom they provide helmets and electronics, so no Angel.

http://www.tdgblog.com/2006/04/straight_from_s.html