Stefan Denifl Explained

Stefan Denifl
Fullname:Stefan Denifl
Birth Date:22 September 1987
Birth Place:Fulpmes, Tyrol, Austria
Weight:65kg (143lb)
Currentteam:Retired
Discipline:Road
Role:Rider
Amateuryears1:2009
Amateurteam1: (stagiaire)
Proyears1:2006
Proyears2:2007–2009
Proyears3:2010
Proyears4:2011
Proyears5:2012
Proyears6:2013–2016
Proyears7:2017–2018
Proteam7:[1]
Majorwins:One-day races and Classics

National Time Trial Championships (2008)

Stefan Denifl (born 22 September 1987) is an Austrian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2018 for seven different professional teams. In 2019, Denifl confessed to doping during a five-year period in his career, and was given a four-year ban from the sport; as a consequence of this, Denifl received a two-year sentence in 2021 for serious commercial fraud.

Career

Born in Fulpmes, Denifl began racing in 2001 with "Team Bike Denifl" as a mountain biker. In 2003, he moved to the road, riding for "Team ÖAMTC Recheis Lattella". From 2004, he focused on road cycling. In 2005, he was signed by Heiko Salzwedel for the T-Mobile Development Programme and included his first experience with the professional cyclists. In 2006, he signed with his first UCI Continental team, and from 2007 to 2009 he was part of . In 2009, he rode as a trainee for,[2] and rode with them as a full professional the next year. In 2012, he rode for a year with [3] before joining the following year.[4] In October 2016, announced that Denifl, alongside IAM team-mate Leigh Howard, would be part of their inaugural squad for the 2017 season.[5] After Aqua Blue disbanded in the later summer of 2018, in October of that year Denifl was initially announced as a member of the for the following season. However, in December 2018 the team announced that they and Denifl had mutually agreed to cancel his contract for personal reasons, which were not specified at the time.[6]

Blood doping

In February 2019, Kronen Zeitung broke news that a number of professional cyclists had been implicated in the doping scandal uncovered at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Later, Denifl confessed to blood doping in a police interview[7] with CCC Team general manager Jim Ochowicz confirming that team's medical assessment of Denifl's biological passport showed no warning signs of blood doping.[8] [9] Denifl was handed a four-year ban on 27 June 2019.[10] On 12 January 2021, it was announced that Denifl would receive a two-year prison sentence for fraud.[11] The following year, the original judgement was overturned and went to a retrial.[12]

Major results

2004
  • 3rd Road race, National Junior Road Championships
    2005
  • National Junior Road Championships
  • 1st Road race
  • 2nd Time trial
  • 2nd Overall Trofeo Karlsberg
  • 6th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
    2007
  • 9th Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop U23
    2008
  • National Road Championships
  • 1st Time trial
  • 1st Under-23 time trial
  • 1st Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop U23
  • 5th Overall Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia
    2009
  • 1st Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23
  • 7th Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt
  • 8th Overall Tour of Austria
    2010
  • 7th Overall Tour of Austria
  • 7th Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt
  • 8th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León
    2011
  • 5th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal
  • 9th Overall Grand Prix de Wallonie
    2012
  • 5th Overall Tour du Limousin
    2013
  • 1st Mountains classification, Bayern–Rundfahrt
  • 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
  • 5th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
    2014
  • 7th Overall Paris–Nice
    2015
  • 1st Mountains classification, Tour de Suisse
  • 10th Overall Tour of Austria
  • 1st Austrian rider classification
    2017
  • 1st Overall Tour of Austria
  • 1st Stage 17 Vuelta a España

    Grand Tour general classification results timeline

    Grand Tour20102011201220132014201520162017
    Giro d'Italia7552
    Tour de FranceDid not contest during his career
    Vuelta a EspañaDNF58
    Legend
    Did not compete
    DNFDid not finish

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: 2018 rider roster and first races confirmed. 1 January 2018. 5 January 2018. . Aqua Blue Sport Limited.
    2. Web site: Cervelo TestTeam Signs Stefan Denifl | RoadCycling.com. roadcycling.com. 5 February 2017.
    3. News: Denifl and Mortensen to Vacansoleil. 14 October 2011. 4 January 2012. Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited.
    4. News: IAM Cycling announces 2013 roster. 24 September 2012. Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 20 September 2012.
    5. Web site: Howard and Denifl headline second round of signings for Aqua Blue Sport. 19 December 2016 . cyclingnews.com. 30 March 2017.
    6. Web site: Zoidl in, Denifl out in late-hour moves at CCC . Hood . Andrew . 24 December 2018 . VeloNews. 26 December 2018.
    7. Web site: Denifl confesses to blood doping in police interview. 3 March 2019.
    8. Web site: Ochowicz: No red flags in Denifl's biological passport. 3 March 2019.
    9. Web site: Austrian cyclist Stefan Denifl 'confesses to blood doping in police interview'.
    10. Web site: Denifl and Preidler handed four-year bans after blood doping confessions . cyclingnews.com . 26 August 2019 . 27 June 2019.
    11. Web site: 2021-01-12. Stefan Denifl receives a prison sentence. 2021-01-12. CyclingTips. en-US.
    12. News: Gerald. Stoiber. Ex-Radprofi Denifl erhält neuen Dopingprozess. German. Ex-cyclist Denifl receives new doping process. Salzburger Nachrichten. Maximilian Dasch Jr., Salzburger Nachrichten Verlag. 27 January 2022. 26 June 2022.