German rider Peter Schumacher went on trial in Stuttgart on Wednesday (April 10) following his recent doping admission.

In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel last month, Schumacher said that doping was part of his training just like eating a "plate of pasta".

Schumacher tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO-CERA at the 2008 Tour de France and the Beijing Olympic Games but had always previously denied cheating. He was given a two-year ban, which was later reduced.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the start of the trial, Schumacher told reporters : "All I can say is that I cheated on people. I cheated on some of the combatants who were clean, I cheated on fans and sometimes on my best friends and family."

Schumacher is one of several riders to have admitted doping since disgraced American Lance Armstrong was last year banned for life and later confessed to cheating his way to seven Tour de France victories from 1999-2005.

The German rode with the Gerolsteiner team from 2006. He won the Amstel Gold one-day classic a year later and two stages of the 2008 Tour de France.

Two of Schumacher's team mates, Italian Davide Rebellin and Austrian Bernhard Kohl, also failed tests for EPO-CERA in 2008.

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