BERLIN: German rider Stefan Schumacher, who has served a two-year doping ban, has admitted regularly knocking back a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs, likening it to eating pasta after training.
Schumacher was caught in October 2008 when a sample taken during that July’s Tour de France was shown to have contained CERA, a variant of the banned blood-booster erythropoeitin (EPO). He also tested positive at the Beijing Olympics.
Drug-taking, he said, was par for the course in his then-team.
“I took EPO, growth hormones and corticoids (steroids),” the former Gerolsteiner rider told Der Speigel in an interview that will be published in full tomorrow.
“I was put into a system. I’m not proud of it but that’s the way it was. Doping became an integral part of the daily routine, like a plate of pasta after training.”
The admission of his doping history was a first for Schumacher, who now races for the Danish team Christina Watches-Onfone, and comes in the wake of the confession by former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong that he cheated his way to the top.
A number of other top cyclists, notably from the Dutch former Rabobank team, to have since admitted regular doping during their careers.
Meanwhile, reigning world champion Philippe Gilbert of Belgium and American rider Taylor Phinney have both been ruled out of tomorrow’s Tour of Flanders, their team BMC has announced.
Gilbert, who has twice finished third in the spring classic race, is currently recovering from a cold and is not in suitable condition to take part, while Phinney has a knee injury and is hoping to return to peak condition for the Paris-Roubaix on April 7.
“With my current condition, I know I cannot be successful at Flanders,” Gilbert was quoted as saying on BMC’s official website.
Phinney said: “I’m confident if I stay at home in Italy and have a couple more days of recovery, I can be back 100 percent for Paris-Roubaix.”
Britain’s Adam Blythe has been named in the BMC team for the race to help cover for the duo’s absence. REUTERS
Mayweather foe Guerrero on gun arrest
NEW YORK: Robert Guerrero, set to fight Floyd Mayweather in five weeks, was arrested yesterday for allegedly trying to take a handgun onto an airplane, prosecutors in New York said.
The 30-year-old Guerrero was arrested at John F Kennedy Airport on gun possession charges while trying to catch a flight to Las Vegas.
“I hope Mr Guerrero fights better than he thinks,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
“You cannot bring an unlicensed weapon - loaded or unloaded - into this country or this city. And if you do you will be arrested and face felony charges.”
Guerrero, 31-1-1 with 18 knockouts, is set to fight fellow American Mayweather, 43-0 with 26 knockouts, for the undefeated star’s World Boxing Council welterweight crown on May 4 at Las Vegas.
After spending several days doing interviews to promote the upcoming fight, Guerrero was heading to Las Vegas when he tried to take an unloaded pistol onto a plane.
Guerrero reportedly told a ticket agent at the airline counter during check in that he had the weapon in a locked box and the police were alerted.
He also had three unloaded high capacity bullet magazines with him.
ESPN reported that while Guerrero has a permit to carry a gun in his home state, he did not have a license to carry a gun in the state of New York. REUTERS
