Pierre Bourquenoud

Pierre Bourquenoud
	Pierre Bourquenoud 1996
To person
Date of birth	November 21, 1969
nation	Switzerland
discipline	Street
Driver type	helper
To the team
Current team	End of career
function	driver
Team (s)
1996 ; 1997–1999 ; 2000–2001 ; 2002 ; 2003 ; 2004	PMU Romand-Bespa ; Post Swiss Team ; Phonak Hearing Systems ; Saint-Quentin-Oktos ; Jean Delatour ; R.AGT Semences-MG Rover
Most important successes
	Second Swiss championship team time trial 1997, second Swiss championships 2001, third Swiss championships 2002
	Last updated: January 6, 2012

Pierre Bourquenoud (born November 21, 1969 in Vaulruz ) is a former Swiss cyclist .

Career

Bourquenoud began his cycling career as an amateur with VC Pedale Bulloise. In 1996 Bourquenoud received his first professional contract with the Swiss team PMU Romand . He celebrated his first victory as a professional cyclist at the Leimental Tour , a little later he had a second success at Sierre-Loye . He was able to achieve further podium positions in the Hegiberg Tour and in the overall ranking of the Tour of Eastern Switzerland .

In the 1997 season the team received a new sponsor and was henceforth called the Post Swiss Team . Bourquenoud remained faithful to the formation and could his only victory this year at the criterion of Lancy win. With his teammates from Pédale Bulloise ( Cédric Fragnière , Yvan Haymoz , Daniel Paradis ), he secured the silver medal at the Swiss championships in the team time trial . For the first time, the young professional drew international attention when he was able to finish third in the overall ranking of the Hessen Tour, behind Kai Hundertmarck and Christian Henn . Bourquenoud could not confirm these successes in the following two years, however, he had to wait until 2000 for another victory. The best placings during this time were second places in the von Muhen criterion and at the GP Winterthur .

For the 2000 season, Bourquenoud, like many of his teammates, moved to the newly founded Swiss team Phonak Hearing Systems . In June he was finally able to end his three-year period without a win and won the Grand Prix Winterthur . He later took third place in the Tour du Doubs in France . He then narrowly missed another victory in September at the Grand Prix of the Maggia Valley behind team-mate Lukas Zumsteg in second place. He was also able to finish in the top seven in various races five more times.

His best results in the 2001 season were a second place at the Grand Prix Winterthur and the silver medal at the Swiss National Championships behind Martin Elmiger . He also finished the Tour du Jura in third and captured two more top ten places. Nevertheless, his contract with Phonak was not renewed at the end of 2001.

That is why Bourquenoud joined the French team Saint-Quentin-Oktos in 2002 . At the Vuelta Ciclista de Chile in March, he won the final stage, a circuit race in Santiago . He won bronze in the Swiss championship, while he came second in the Tour de la Somme and the Tour du Doubs.

Before the 2003 season, Bourquenoud then signed with the Jean Delatour team and was nominated for his first Grand Tour , the Tour de France , which celebrated its 100th birthday that year. However, he had to give up the race on the eighth stage. Under the new name RAGT Semences-MG Rover , the team again took part in the Tour of France in 2004 , again Bourquenoud was in the squad. This time he reached the finish in Paris , 130th overall. After the end of the 2004 season, the Swiss ended his career as a professional cyclist.