Tour DuPont
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The Tour DuPont was a cycling stage race in the United States held from 1991–1996. It was an effort to create a North American cycling event that would be similar in format and prestige to the Tour de France. It was sponsored by DuPont. It was held in the Middle Atlantic states, including areas near DuPont's Wilmington, Delaware headquarters.
The event attracted high-level competitors, notably Lance Armstrong and Greg LeMond, and was attended by high profile European based cycling teams, but received relatively little attention outside the cycling community and after the sixth running in 1996 DuPont dropped its sponsorship.
The Tour DuPont was preceded by a similar race called the Tour de Trump 1989–1990 which was sponsored by Donald Trump.
1991 Tour DuPont
In the most dramatic finish in Tour history, the Netherlands's Erik Breukink of PDM came from 50 seconds behind despite a flat tire to defeat Atle Kvalsvoll on the streets of Wilmington, Delaware. Kvalsvoll would finish second overall for the second time in three consecutive years. Kvalsvoll had been able to put valuable time on Breukink on a steep mountain top finish up to Wintergreen Resort in Virginia earlier in the race.
Coors Light's Greg Oravetz became the first American to lead America's premier cycling event, taking the yellow jersey on a key breakaway in a circuit race in the shadows of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
Leaders Jersey
Pro., Stages 1 - Erik Breukink (NED), PDM Stage 2 - Patrik Roelandt (BEL), Tonton-Tapis Stage 3-5 - Greg Oravetr (USA), Coors Light Stage 6-10 - Atle Kvalsvoll (NOR), "Z" Stage 11 - Erik Breukink (NED), PDM
Highlights
Erik Breukink makes up 50 seconds during the final 16.6-mile time trial on leader Atle Kvalsvoll to steal a victory...Greg Oravetz becomes the second USA rider to lead the Tour...Canadian Steve Bauer of Motorola and young German Rolf Aldag both capture two stage wins.
1992 Tour DuPont
Greg LeMond appropriately became the first American to win the Tour DuPont, hanging on during the final day's time trial through the streets of Washington, D.C, Teammate Atle Kvalsvoll, who had missed out on the winner's podium two years in a row was relegated to support LeMond over the final three days of the Tour though he was only one second behind him.
Meanwhile, Phil Anderson of Motorola sets a record of four straight podium (top three) appearances while chipping away via time bonuses at the team "Z" due. Anderson comes within 20 seconds heading into the final day, but loses it all to LeMond's superior time trialing.
Dave Mann of Great Britain puts in a Herculean effort while retaining the leader's jersey for domestic-based Coors Light.
Leaders Jersey
Pro., Stage 1 - Greg LeMond (USA), "Z" Stages 2-5 - David Mann (GBR), Coors Light Stages 6-7 - Atle Kvalsvoll (NOR), "Z" Stages 8-11 - Greg LeMond (USA), "Z"
Highlights
Greg LeMond wins Prologue in record time en route to first American win since the mid-1980s. It is the last major win of his career. Kvalsvoll and LeMond support each other in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, holding off Motorola's Phil Anderson. Anderson wins three stages. Motorola's Michel Zanoli is expelled from the race after punching Davis Phinney in a sprint into Richmond, Virginia, which Anderson wins.
1993 Tour DuPont
Jelle Nijdam blisters the field by setting a Prologue record to capture the leader's jersey. Nijdam's job is to not only protect his lead but work for overall contender Raul Alcala. An odd thing occurs, instead of the leader saving his energy, he is working to keep the tempo of the race high to prohibit breakaways and possible threat to WordPerfect's lead.
The result is a defensive game between WordPerfect and their top opposition, Motorola. Motorola's top hope was Lance Armstrong. In the race's final showdown, a lengthy 36-mile (59km) time trial, Alcala shows superior strength, winning by more than 46 seconds over the second-place finisher, Armstrong learns a time trial lesson, but finishes a respectable fourth in the final time trial to finish second overall. A new American cycling star is born.
1994 Tour DuPont
Overall standings 1st Viatcheslav Ekimov WordPerfect Russia 47hr 14'29" 2nd Lance Armstrong Motorola USA @ 1'24" 3rd Andrea Peron Polti Italy @ 2'43" 9th Raul Alcala Motorola Mexico @ 6'13" 11th Sean Yates Motorola UK @ 6'57" 15th Phil Anderson Motorola Australia @ 7'41" 21st Steve Bauer Motorola Canada @ 10'17" 22nd Greg LeMond Gan USA @ 10'39" 45th Frankie Andreu Motorola USA @ 45'28" 47th George Hincapie Motorola USA @ 46'07" Team classification 1st Motorola 141 hr 34'14" 1st Polti @ 1'36" 3rd Saturn @ 9'37" 4th Coors Light @ 13'14"
1995 Tour DuPont
Italian Gianluca Bortolami, riding for the Mapei-GB squad, wins the 4.8K prologue by one second over Andrea Peron and Lance Armstrong, both riding for Motorola, and Viatcheslav Ekimov, riding for Novell, who are all separated by half a second. Malcom Elliott wins stage 2 in a sprint and takes over the GC presumably due to a time bonus. On stage 3, Peron pulls out one second on Armstrong who just pips Eki at the line, followed by the field at 10 seconds back, putting Peron into the lead with Armstrong trailing by 5 seconds (time bonuses again). Stage 3 is flat and Ekimov's teammate and countryman Djamolidin Abdujaparov wins the sprint. The GC is unchanged.
Into the mountains on stage 4, and Armstrong stamps his authority on the race putting 2:10 into teammate Peron and more into Ekimov, to end up leading the GC by 2:09. Armstrong teammates Sean Yates, Steve Bauer, and Alvaro Mehia are all in the top 10, and Tyler Hamilton is the second best placed US rider in 15th on GC.
Stage 5 is an individual time trial, won by Armstrong with 8 seconds over Ekimov and more over Peron who is third on the stage. Armstrong's GC lead is now 2:43. Stage 6 ends in a field sprint taken out by Franck Jarno of France riding for AKI-Gipiemme, over Australian Robbie McEwen who is riding for his national team. Armstrong's GC lead is unchanged.
Stage 7 is won by Leon Van Bon of the Netherlands in a breakaway. His breakaway companions are the inimitable Jacky Durant from France, Andrea Vatteroni from Italy and Fred Rodriguez of the United States. Canadian Brian Walton is dropped from the breakaway before the finish and comes in 5th, 3 minutes ahead of the next group.
Stage 8 is won by Clark Sheehan of Colorado in a solo breakaway after dropping Abdujaparov who would fall to 11th on the day. The top GC positions are again unchanged.
Armstrong wins stage 9 at the top of Beech Mountain, with 41 seconds in hand over Zenon Jaskula of Poland, and extends his GC lead to 3:55 over Peron and 4:05 over Ekimov.
Stage 10 results - not found.
In the final 49K time trial, Ekimov puts 2:05 into Armstrong and moves past Peron on GC, but Armstrong, finishing 5th in the final test against the clock, preserves his overall victory by 2:00.
General Classification (Final)
1. Lance Armstrong, Austin, Texas, Motorola 46:31:16 (24.32 mph) 2. Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russia, Novell + 02:00 3. Andrea Peron, Italy, Motorola 2:56 4. Alvaro Mejia, Colombia, Motorola 6:24 5. Daniele Nardello, Italy, Mapei-GB 8:47 6. Andrei Teteriok, Kazakhstan, AKI-Gipiemme 9:12 7. Laurent Madouas, France, Castorama 9:30 8. Darren Baker, Santa Rosa, Calif., Montgomery-Bell 10:54 9. Zenon Jaskula, Poland, AKI-Gipiemme 12:12 10. Michael Blaudzun, Netherlands, Novell 12:17
1996 Tour DuPont
Final General Classification
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Motorola, 48:20:05
2. Pascal Herve (FRA), Festina, @ 3:15
3. Tony Rominger (SUI), Mapei-GB, @ 5:38
4. David Plaza (ESP), Festina, @ 7:24
5. Jean Cyril Robin (FRA), Festina, @ 7:26
6. Andy Hampsten (USA), U.S. Postal Service, @ 7:43
7. Arsenio Gonzalez (ESP), Mapei-GB, @ 7:59
8. Felix Garcia-Casas (ESP), Festina, @ 8:06
9. Federico Echave (ESP), Mapei-GB, @ 8:27
10. Axel Merckx (BEL), Motorola, @ 8:52
Jersey winners:
Food Lion Leader: Lance Armstrong, Motorola
Most Aggressive: Pascal Herve, Festina
Sprint Leader: Leon van Bon, Rabobank
King of the Mountain: Tony Rominger, Mapei-GB