Niki Rüttimann (born 18 August 1962 in

Untereggen Untereggen is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Rorschach in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Geography Untereggen has an area, , of . Of this area, 50.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.9% is forested ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

former

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

. Ruttiman was one of the most important

domestique In road bicycle racing, a domestique is a rider who works for the benefit of their team and leader, rather than trying to win the race. In French, ''domestique'' translates as "servant".However, in French, the term used is ''équipier''. In I ...

s of the

La Vie Claire La Vie Claire was a professional road bicycle racing team named after its chief sponsor La Vie Claire, a chain of health food stores. History The La Vie Claire team was created in 1984 by Bernard Tapie and directed by Paul Köchli. The tea ...

teams of the mid 1980s. In the

1984 Tour de France The 1984 Tour de France was the 71st edition of the Tour de France, run over in 23 stages and a prologue, from 29 June to 22 July. The race was dominated by the Renault team, who won the team classification and ten stages: Renault's French rider ...

he finished 11th overall riding in support of

Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault (; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional road cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five times the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. In his career, Hinault ...

who placed 2nd. During the

1985 Tour de France The 1985 Tour de France was the 72nd edition of the Tour de France, one of Cycle sport, cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It took place between 28 June and 21 July 1985. The course ran over and consisted of a individual time trial, p ...

as well as the

1986 Tour de France The 1986 Tour de France was a cycling race held in France, from 4 July to 27 July. It was the 73rd running of the Tour de France. Greg LeMond of won the race, ahead of his teammate Bernard Hinault. It was the first ever victory for a rider outs ...

he was right there between Hinault and

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

as they battled for Tour victories both years. He finished 13th in 1985 and 7th in 1986 while also winning stage 14. In 1987 he won a stage in the

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. I ...

and a stage in the

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycling road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during the first half of June. It is part ...

and went into the

Tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

supporting

Jean-François Bernard Jean-François Bernard (born 2 May 1962) is a French former professional road bicycle racer. Career He turned professional in 1984 for La Vie Claire, led by Bernard Hinault. He was seen as Hinault’s successor as a winner of stage races from ...

being as Hinault had retired and LeMond was recovering from a gunshot wound. Bernard held the yellow jersey late in the race and finished 3rd overall as Ruttiman was there until the end, but abandoned on the final stage in the high mountains. He won two stages and finished 2nd overall in the 1988 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.

Major results

;1979 : 1st MaillotSuiza

Road race, National Junior Road Championships ;1980 : 1st Overall

Grand Prix Rüebliland The Grand Prix Rüebliland is a junior (ages 17-18) multi-day cycling race held annually in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. It was part of the UCI Junior World Cup UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public univ ...

;1982 : 1st Overall

GP Tell The Grand Prix Guillaume Tell (, "William Tell Grand Prize") was a professional cycling race held annually in Switzerland. It was part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were in ...

::1st Stages 2 & 3 ;1983 : 1st Stage 6

Coors Classic The Coors International Bicycle Classic (1980–1988) was a stage race sponsored by the Coors Brewing Company. Coors was the race's second sponsor; the first, Celestial Seasonings, named the race after its premium tea Red Zinger, which began in 1 ...

: 3rd

Schynberg Rundfahrt The Schynberg Rundfahrt was a one-day road bicycle racing, road cycling race held annually in Switzerland between 1982 and 2003. Until 1990, it was a junior race, before switching to amateur, and in 1997 was opened to professionals. It served as th ...

;1984 : 1st

Clásica de San Sebastián The Donostia-Donostia Klasikoa — Clásica San Sebastián-San Sebastián (San Sebastián Classic) is a one-day professional men's bicycle road race in northern Spain that has been held every summer since 1981 in San Sebastián. It is the mo ...

: 3rd Overall

: 4th

Subida a Arrate The Subida a Arrate was a road bicycle race held annually in the Basque Country, Spain from 1941 until 1986. It then merged with the Gran Premio de la Bicicleta Eibarresa, which became the Euskal Bizikleta Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: ''Bicicleta ...

: 5th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ;1985 : 1st Overall

Paris–Bourges Paris–Bourges is a French road bicycle race. The race originally started in Paris and ran to the town of Bourges in the Région Centre. However, in recent year with the length of races shortened it has become impossible to link the two cities a ...

: 2nd Overall

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 ...

: 5th Overall

: 9th Overall

Tirreno–Adriatico Tirreno–Adriatico, nicknamed the "Race of the Two Seas", is an elite road cycling stage race in Italy, run between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Traditionally held in the early part of the season, it is considered to be an important prep ...

;1986 : 1st Overall

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

: 1st Overall

Route du Sud The Route d'Occitanie is a road bicycle race with 4 stages held annually in Southern France. It was first held in 1977 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is usually held a week before the Tour de France ...

: 7th Overall

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

::1st Stage 14 : 7th Overall

Critérium International The Critérium International was a two-day bicycle stage race held in France every spring from 1932 until 2016, typically the last weekend of March. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in 1932. For many years ...

: 9th Overall Giro d'Italia : 10th

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five 'Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cy ...

;1987 : 1st Stage 4 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré : 1st Stage 1

;1988 : 2nd Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré ::1st Stages 1a & 5 : 2nd Boucles Parisiennes : 4th Wartenberg Rundfahrt : 10th Overall

;1989 : 1st : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 3rd

Tour du Nord-Ouest Tour de Berne is an elite professional road bicycle racing event held in Berne, Switzerland with races for men and women. Men's event The men's event began in 1920 and has previously been a UCI 1.2 rated event on the UCI Europe Tour. Women' ...

: 6th Wartenberg Rundfahrt ;1990 : 7th

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

Niki Rüttimann
at CyclingRanking.com * * 1962 births Swiss male cyclists Living people Swiss Tour de France stage winners Sportspeople from the canton of St. Gallen {{switzerland-cycling-bio-stub