# 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 Vorarlberger, and from 2007 to 2009 he was part of Elk Haus–Simplon. In 2009, he rode as a trainee for Cervélo TestTeam, and rode with them as a full professional the next year. In 2012, he rode for a year with Vacansoleil–DCM before joining IAM Cycling the following year. In October 2016, Aqua Blue Sport 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 CCC Team 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 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 Tour | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | 75 | — | — | — | 52 | — |
| Tour de France | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career | Did not contest during his career |
| Vuelta a España | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | 58 |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |