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 Fulpmes is a market town and a municipality in Stubaital, Tyrol, Austria. In 2015 it had a population of 4,250, of whom 14.5% did not have Austrian nationality. Fulpmes is the center of iron production in the area, and lies at the base of the Schl ...

, 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 , and rode with them as a full professional the next year. In 2012, he rode for a year with before joining the following year. In October 2016, announced that Denifl, alongside IAM team-mate

Leigh Howard Leigh Howard (born 18 October 1989) is an Australian professional racing cyclist. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in both the Men's Madison and Men's Team Pursuit. Howard was part of the Men's team pursuit together with Kelland O'Bri ...

, would be part of their inaugural squad for the 2017 season. 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 due to personal reasons, which were not specified at the time.

Blood doping

In February 2019,

Kronen Zeitung The ''Kronen Zeitung'' (), commonly known as the ''Krone'', is Austria's largest newspaper. It is known for being Eurosceptic. History The first issue of the ''Kronen Zeitung'' appeared on 2 January 1900. Gustav Davis, a former army officer, ...

broke news that a number of professional cyclists had been implicated in the doping scandal uncovered at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

. Later, Denifl confessed to blood doping in a police interview 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. Denifl was handed a four-year ban on 27 June 2019. On 12 January 2021, it was announced that Denifl would receive a two-year prison sentence for fraud. The following year, the original judgement was overturned and went to a retrial.

Major results

;2004 : 3rd Road race, National Junior Road Championships ;2005 : National Junior Road Championships ::1st MaillotAustria

Road race ::2nd

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

: 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 MaillotAustria

::1st

Under-23 time trial : 1st Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop U23 : 5th Overall

Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia The Giro del Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a professional cycling race held annually in Italy. It is part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycli ...

;2009 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23 Thüringen Rundfahrt der U23 was a bicycle road race held annually in the German state of Thuringia. It was a stage race reserved to athletes under the age of 23. Since 2005, it was organized as a 2.2U event on the UCI Europe Tour. After the 201 ...

: 7th Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt : 8th Overall

Tour of Austria The Tour of Austria (german: Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt) is a stage cycling race held in Austria. From 1949 to 1995 it was a race for amateur cyclists, turning into a professional event in 1996. In 2005 and 2006 it was organised as a 2 ...

;2010 : 7th Overall

: 7th Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt : 8th Overall

Vuelta a Castilla y León The Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León is a professional road bicycle stage race held in Castile and León, Spain. Since 2005, Vuelta a Castilla y León has been a part of the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bi ...

;2011 : 5th

Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal is a one-day professional bicycle road race held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its first edition was held on September 12, 2010 as the final event in the 2010 UCI ProTour. The Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal ...

: 9th Overall

Grand Prix de Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, ...

;2012 : 5th Overall

Tour du Limousin Tour du Limousin is a 4-day road bicycle race held annually in Limousin, France. It was first held in 1968 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle raci ...

;2013 : 1st Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification Bayern–Rundfahrt : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 5th Overall

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...

;2014 : 7th Overall

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlookin ...

;2015 : 1st Mountains classification
Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...
: 10th Overall
Tour of Austria The Tour of Austria (german: Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt) is a stage cycling race held in Austria. From 1949 to 1995 it was a race for amateur cyclists, turning into a professional event in 1996. In 2005 and 2006 it was organised as a 2 ...
::~~1st Austrian rider classification~~ ;2017 : 1st Overall
Tour of Austria The Tour of Austria (german: Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt) is a stage cycling race held in Austria. From 1949 to 1995 it was a race for amateur cyclists, turning into a professional event in 1996. In 2005 and 2006 it was organised as a 2 ...
: 1st Stage 17
Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the r ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Denifl, Stefan 1987 births Living people Austrian male cyclists People from Innsbruck-Land District Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Austria Sportspeople from Tyrol (state) Doping cases in cycling Austrian sportspeople in doping cases