From the first to the last hour, Stefan Denifl was part of the Swiss WorldTour team IAM, which was established before the 2013 season and now leaves the peloton after four years. 

"IAM was a brilliant team. I am very grateful for these four wonderful years," Denifl told radsport-news.com.

For health reasons, the last 30 months were anything but easy for the Austrian. For a long time a knee injury slowed him down but the problem was finally solved for the 2016 season. Nonetheless, Denifl admitted: "The spring was modest. I must have done some wrong in the preparation. I was better in December than at the start of the season in February,” he said.

However, the IAM riders reached a good level in April and at the Tour of the Basque Country he missed out on the mountains jersey by only one point. 

"I would have liked to win that jersey. It hurt to lose it by such a small margin,” he said.

His best performances of the season came at the Giro d`Italia in May. He was part of the main break on five stages of which four were mountain stages. The result was a sixth place and fourth place in the mountains classification. "I was very satisfied with the Giro," Denifl said.

He planned to continue the momentum at the Tour de Suisse but he missed the racedue to illness. 

"I would have liked to show myself on my home stage to Sölden," said the Austrian who was selected for the Olympics exactly 20 years after his father who did the mountain bike race in Atlanta.

However, the race went badly. 

"In the race I had two mechanicals and I got a virus that kept me in bed for two weeks."

However, he stressed: "To be at the Olympics was a great honor and an unforgettable experience."

At the end of the season, Denifl again reached a good level but there were no results. He wants to make up for that with his new team, the Irish Aqua Blue Cycling.

"I look forward to this new project. As with IAM I will be there right from the start and can grow with the team," said Denifl who hopes that his team already in 2017 will get some wild cards for the big races. "If everything goes according to plan, Aqua Blue Cycling could be the team, where ever rider wants to be in two or three years," said Denifl.