Stefan Denifl

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

https://www.krone.at/1875198

Austrian newspaper reports that Denifl confessed to blood doping already a while ago.

This explains his strange last season and of course his even stranger sudden end of career after just signing a WT contract.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

It has now been confirmed. https://tirol.orf.at/news/stories/2967760/

 

[roundabout]

Puts a new light on the Miracle at los Machucos

 

[GuyIncognito]

It's apparently part of a larger investigation involving several athletes from many countries, but mostly Germany.
The blood bags found are being tested for DNA to isolate who the athletes are.

As part of the same investigation a few skiers were arrested yesterday during the world championships and one of the police officers is facing disciplinary action for putting up on youtube a video of one of the skiers caught red handed during a blood transfusion

 

[Gigs_98]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

 

[GuyIncognito]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

It'll be worse for the german fans. This entire doping operation is based in Erfurt where a huge portion of german cyclists conveniently started living in recent years.

 

[Nyssinator]

What is good about austrians being caught is that they usually admit a lot about who helped them.

 

[roundabout]

Useless because CCC offered him a contract?

Because apart from that you don't know how suspicious his test results were and what effect it may have had in Aqua Blue closing down.

 

[Gigs_98]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

It'll be worse for the german fans. This entire doping operation is based in Erfurt where a huge portion of german cyclists conveniently started living in recent years.

Which Germans? Just wondering
And yeah it might get worse for Germans but it already is pretty bad for Austrians. That's already three caught and all that because of an Austrian whistleblower

 

[roundabout]

Linked article says that the prosecutor can not confirm that it was Dürr. It's probable that someone indeed did blow the whistle, but so far there has been no confirmation who it was.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Another pack filler caught doping. Honestly, I’m so glad that dopers never train, just imagine how good they would be, both training AND doping? Sky and the rest wouldn’t have a chance.

 

[Simurgh]

Not surprised. His Machucos ride alone was enough "evidence". But as you say, Vino, it is only mid-low tier riders, who get caught. No one in the higher echelons of the sport wants to see a star caught, because that could very well be the end for sponsorships, once and for all...

 

[GuyIncognito]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

It'll be worse for the german fans. This entire doping operation is based in Erfurt where a huge portion of german cyclists conveniently started living in recent years.

Which Germans? Just wondering
And yeah it might get worse for Germans but it already is pretty bad for Austrians. That's already three caught and all that because of an Austrian whistleblower

I really don't want to speculate too much on names, but there's one name that keeps coming back to me.

I keep replaying in my mind an interview with a certain double monument winner from Erfurt, categorically denying that a crash had anything to do with his bad performances since, and saying he definitely knew the real reason....but refusing to say what that reason was and being pissed off that the journalist dared ask.

And there's also Kittel, of course. He's been in a doping scandal with an Erfurt clinic before

 

[ppanther92]

Re:

What is good about austrians being caught is that they usually admit a lot about who helped them.

Somehow true. I like your positive thinking.

 

[ppanther92]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

It'll be worse for the german fans. This entire doping operation is based in Erfurt where a huge portion of german cyclists conveniently started living in recent years.

Well, don't get your hopes too high. Like i mentioned in the XC thread - it is certainly possible that the alleged 40+ athletes will boil down to the 5XC skiers and some random cyclist (already true now). When you look how unwillingly authorities investegated Operacion Puerto or (to keep the focus on germany) the Freiburg case, i certainly can also see this one leading nowhere.

In the 5+1 cases, there was obviously a whistleblower and not good anti-doping work or something like that, which forced authorities to act.

 

[ecw445]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

It'll be worse for the german fans. This entire doping operation is based in Erfurt where a huge portion of german cyclists conveniently started living in recent years.

Which Germans? Just wondering
And yeah it might get worse for Germans but it already is pretty bad for Austrians. That's already three caught and all that because of an Austrian whistleblower

I really don't want to speculate too much on names, but there's one name that keeps coming back to me.

I keep replaying in my mind an interview with a certain double monument winner from Erfurt, categorically denying that a crash had anything to do with his bad performances since, and saying he definitely knew the real reason....but refusing to say what that reason was and being pissed off that the journalist dared ask.

And there's also Kittel, of course. He's been in a doping scandal with an Erfurt clinic before

Can't imagine Kittel being stupid enough to get involved with a previously known doping doctor.

 

[Sestriere]

What a time to be an Austrian sports fan
Just shows you that just as in XC skiing the blood passport is as useless as it gets

It'll be worse for the german fans. This entire doping operation is based in Erfurt where a huge portion of german cyclists conveniently started living in recent years.

Well, don't get your hopes too high. Like i mentioned in the XC thread - it is certainly possible that the alleged 40+ athletes will boil down to the 5XC skiers and some random cyclist (already true now). When you look how unwillingly authorities investegated Operacion Puerto or (to keep the focus on germany) the Freiburg case, i certainly can also see this one leading nowhere.

In the 5+1 cases, there was obviously a whistleblower and not good anti-doping work or something like that, which forced authorities to act.

The difference is that since 2015 Germany has an anti-doping-law that punishes use of PED with a sentence of up to three years. Before that, to my understanding, only medics were affected by federal law when they violated drug laws during treatment. Athletes themselves were only bound to sports law regarding doping. Definitely now the prosecution will be after the alleged 50-odd clients as they violated federal law.

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Not surprised. His Machucos ride alone was enough "evidence". But as you say, Vino, it is only mid-low tier riders, who get caught. No one in the higher echelons of the sport wants to see a star caught, because that could very well be the end for sponsorships, once and for all...

+1. And even if, through some bureaucratic screwup or leak, an elite world tour rider were to be caught . . . imagine the legal contortions that would be implemented to get such a rider off the hook. Not that this has actually ever happened, of course.

 

[BullsFan22]

The German authorities keep saying there are no German athletes involved. I don't buy that. A German doctor, based in Germany, working for so many years, working with so many athletes in different sports, giving doping resources and advice to non-Germans only? Are German authorities putting a muzzle on him? Are there backdoor deals? Is the only way we found out when a German whistleblower comes out and tells all? We know that nothing significant came out of the Vienna and Freiburg revelations, only cyclists were busted, even though other sports like xc and biathlon were reportedly affected, and the story quickly went away. The German xc program was very, very good 10-15 years ago. Three skiers won four overall WC's in a row from 2003/2004 to 2006/2007. They still were at a high level to probably Vancouver 2010 and a bit in Oslo 2011.

 

[ecw445]

The German authorities keep saying there are no German athletes involved. I don't buy that. A German doctor, based in Germany, working for so many years, working with so many athletes in different sports, giving doping resources and advice to non-Germans only? Are German authorities putting a muzzle on him? Are there backdoor deals? Is the only way we found out when a German whistleblower comes out and tells all? We know that nothing significant came out of the Vienna and Freiburg revelations, only cyclists were busted, even though other sports like xc and biathlon were reportedly affected, and the story quickly went away. The German xc program was very, very good 10-15 years ago. Three skiers won four overall WC's in a row from 2003/2004 to 2006/2007. They still were at a high level to probably Vancouver 2010 and a bit in Oslo 2011.

But what current german cyclists would risk jail for the results they're doing? Very doubtful

 

[Serpentin]

I never believed his performance in the 2017 Vuelta, robbing my man Conti from his glory.

 

[WKA311]

The German authorities keep saying there are no German athletes involved. I don't buy that. A German doctor, based in Germany, working for so many years, working with so many athletes in different sports, giving doping resources and advice to non-Germans only? Are German authorities putting a muzzle on him? Are there backdoor deals? Is the only way we found out when a German whistleblower comes out and tells all? We know that nothing significant came out of the Vienna and Freiburg revelations, only cyclists were busted, even though other sports like xc and biathlon were reportedly affected, and the story quickly went away. The German xc program was very, very good 10-15 years ago. Three skiers won four overall WC's in a row from 2003/2004 to 2006/2007. They still were at a high level to probably Vancouver 2010 and a bit in Oslo 2011.

I've just heard the authorities say that officially there were no professional german athletes treated by that clinic. The question that remains is to find out if there were athletes unofficially visiting that clinic getting juiced up.

 

[Gigs_98]

The German authorities keep saying there are no German athletes involved. I don't buy that. A German doctor, based in Germany, working for so many years, working with so many athletes in different sports, giving doping resources and advice to non-Germans only? Are German authorities putting a muzzle on him? Are there backdoor deals? Is the only way we found out when a German whistleblower comes out and tells all? We know that nothing significant came out of the Vienna and Freiburg revelations, only cyclists were busted, even though other sports like xc and biathlon were reportedly affected, and the story quickly went away. The German xc program was very, very good 10-15 years ago. Three skiers won four overall WC's in a row from 2003/2004 to 2006/2007. They still were at a high level to probably Vancouver 2010 and a bit in Oslo 2011.

I've just heard the authorities say that officially there were no professional german athletes treated by that clinic. The question that remains is to find out if there were athletes unofficially visiting that clinic getting juiced up.

Were all those Austrians officially treated in that clinic? Would have been incredibly suspicious if yes

I never believed his performance in the 2017 Vuelta, robbing my man Conti from his glory.

Yeah cause Contador in the 2017 vuelta was as clean as a daisy

 

[BullsFan22]

The German authorities keep saying there are no German athletes involved. I don't buy that. A German doctor, based in Germany, working for so many years, working with so many athletes in different sports, giving doping resources and advice to non-Germans only? Are German authorities putting a muzzle on him? Are there backdoor deals? Is the only way we found out when a German whistleblower comes out and tells all? We know that nothing significant came out of the Vienna and Freiburg revelations, only cyclists were busted, even though other sports like xc and biathlon were reportedly affected, and the story quickly went away. The German xc program was very, very good 10-15 years ago. Three skiers won four overall WC's in a row from 2003/2004 to 2006/2007. They still were at a high level to probably Vancouver 2010 and a bit in Oslo 2011.

I've just heard the authorities say that officially there were no professional german athletes treated by that clinic. The question that remains is to find out if there were athletes unofficially visiting that clinic getting juiced up.

If true, ok, but just find it very odd that the clients of a German doctor based in Germany, who has been around for years and has had dealings with high calibre professional athletes from other countries but NOT Germany.

Just my opinion. Let's see if Dürr says more on this subject. The problem is, how will everyone react to him? A lot of people, certainly in the nordic community have already dismissed his claims, not just because he is a convicted doper, but because there is an omerta and there are still plenty of those that feel that you can win 'cleanly' at that level and that Dürr is making stuff up. How far will the Austrian authorities take this? Will they just care about outing their own athletes for criminal and bureaucratic purposes or will they share info on others with i.e. their German counterparts?

 

[Frankschleck]

I never believed his performance in the 2017 Vuelta, robbing my man Conti from his glory.

Well, I see where you are coming from, but robbing Contador or any of the other top 10 gc's is'nt really robbing, as they are probably doping aswell. Especially robbing a guy who already has gotten a doping ban.