Stefan Denifl

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, 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, 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 for personal reasons, which were not specified at the time.

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 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.PNG 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 MaillotAustria.PNG Time trial
 * 1st MaillotAustria.PNG Under-23 time trial
 * 1st Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop U23
 * 5th Overall Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia


 * 2009
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg 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 Jersey polkadot.svg Mountains classification, Bayern–Rundfahrt
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 5th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe


 * 2014
 * 7th Overall Paris–Nice


 * 2015
 * 1st Jersey light blue.svg Mountains classification, Tour de Suisse
 * 10th Overall Tour of Austria
 * 1st Jersey pink.svg Austrian rider classification


 * 2017
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Austria
 * 1st Stage 17 Vuelta a España