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The Tour de Trump (later Tour DuPont) was run from 1989 to 1996 on the East Coast. Information regarding the details of these events seems to be sparse, especially the earlier editions.

Does anyone have maps of the stage routes for each of these events (1989-1996)?

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    I thought this would be a quick google, but after an hour searching, its not that easy. The wikipedia article mentions start and end points, but not a map or plan of the race stages. You might make an enquiry to Dupont's or Trump Corp's public relations departments.
    – Criggie
    Jul 2, 2016 at 3:13
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    Yeah, I'm definitely looking for stage maps. I figured this might be a little more difficult to track down, just because of the years it was run. I'll have to check with DuPont and Trump Corp in the hopes they still kept that info...
    – Ealhmund
    Jul 5, 2016 at 14:35
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    Might also consider checking with USCF, they may still have route maps. Ugh, that appears to be the US Chess Federation. :( I guess it's now USA Cycling.
    – FreeMan
    Jul 5, 2016 at 20:31
  • This race was mentioned in youtube.com/watch?v=ymK3GOYxdeI
    – Criggie
    Apr 1, 2018 at 11:17

6 Answers 6

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Are you still looking for stage maps? I have the Tour DuPont program books from 1993, 1995 & 1996. They include a map and a profile of each stage. Also have Lance Armstrong's signature in the 1995 book.

programssample


edit - Here's a first snap of the overall maps for the three years.

Apologies for the quality - I've just snapped them with a phone in the meantime, and the glossy paper makes it hard to avoid reflections. Better images will be coming, will scan the lot with a flatbed scanner.

1993: 1993 route overview

1995: 1995 route overview

1996: 1996 route overview


EDIT Here's the complete 1993 magazine: https://criggie.org.nz/bikes/stackexchange/1993-dupont.pdf Its 73 Mbytes.

Page 72 and 73 showing prolog, stage1 and stage2 of 1993 race

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  • 2
    Yeah, any way you could scan then in and link them here?
    – Ealhmund
    Jul 1, 2017 at 18:33
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    @altomnr Present for you.
    – Criggie
    Jul 27, 2017 at 11:35
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    @altomnr 1993 called. I have not found a good way to remove the distortion sorry. I may need to make some kind of frame to hold the magazine flatter to the camera. I thought about flatbed scanning but mine takes ~minutes per page, whereas a gopro on autosnap every 5 seconds was much quicker. Next time I'll use 10 seconds and some better lighting.
    – Criggie
    Aug 17, 2017 at 14:02
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    I've just realized that we need to organize a bike race in Delaware and call it the Tour de DE. Aug 17, 2017 at 14:47
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    FYI the 1993 prologue course shown in the image is now used regularly for the individual time trial associated with the Wilmington Grand Prix race weekend every May. Only difference is that the start/finish is at the top of Monkey Hill instead of downtown, but the overall loop is the same.
    – Andrew
    Jul 19, 2019 at 12:00
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+50

This is not a proper answer. Its more a collection of notes gleaned from different sources. Feel free to add more if you find other things.


1989

The first Tour de Trump, a 10-day, 837-mile bicycle race through five Eastern states http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/15/sports/dispute-mars-end-of-the-tour-de-trump.html

Other site says 825 miles total, or 782 miles. 10 stages in all.

Prologue Albany, MAY 5, 1989. A 2 mile time trial to establish a race leader

Stage 1 - May 6th. First stage was in Albany NY to New Paltz (110 miles), on May 5. This segment is remembered for a hellishly difficult climb called Devil's Kitchen. Officially named Platte Cove Road but dubbed Devil's Kitchen for a nearby mountain hollow, the climb was a 15-degree grade in West Saugerties that ascended from 300 feet to 1,840 feet above sea level in a span of two miles. This part of the route is https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2746243

Stage 2 - May 7th between New York and Allentown on Sunday, May 7. 123-mile route ran due west from NY through New Jersey, over rolling hills and into a head wind, before ending in Allentown, Pa.

Stage 3 May 9th. GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, AND WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA

Stage 4 May 10th. BETWEEN FRONT ROYAL AND CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA 107-miles

Stage 5 or Stage 6 14.5km ITT in Richmond

Stage 5 or Stage 6 - MISSING

Stage 7 team time trial in Richmond, Va

Stage 8 68-mile circuit race in Arlington, Va

Stage 9 - May 13th Baltimore criterium, a 30-lap, 51 miles

Stage 10 - May 14th The 1989 Tour de Trump ended with an ITT in Atlantic City on a Sunday, just before the Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino. 38.6km The 24-mile time-trial course started in front of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, continued a mile down the boardwalk, took a hard left through a slum area, passed in front of the Trump Castle and took a right over the Brigantine Bridge. From that point the course became a maze of turns through Brigantine Island. From http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=30224

Three "non-Trumpian" towns through which the race passed: New Paltz (N.Y.) and Front Royal (Va.) and Allentown (Pa.) Also, the first six stages of the Tour passed through the Catskills, the Poconos, Pennsylvania Dutch country and the Blue Ridge Mountains and had the feeling of a European road race—rolling hills, open countryside, winding roads. From http://www.si.com/vault/1989/05/22/119927/the-wheels-of-fortune-the-tour-de-trump-billionaire-donald-trumps-bike-race-through-the-american-countryside-was-a-smashing-success

Here's the only "map" I could find, in two pieces.

enter image description here enter image description here From "Spy Magazine" and by "SYDNEY SCHUSTER" original link at https://sydneyschuster.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/run-amok-mapping-the-tour-de-trumps-mishaps-foul-ups-and-egregious-exaggerations/

One other reference to a map for this year:

    Article "What's in a Name? It's Tour de Trump"
    By MALCOLM MORAN, Special to The New York Times
    Published: May 5, 1989, map of Tour de Trump route (pg. D23) 

1990 Tour De Trump

Suggested plan in 1989 was "Begin the Tour in Boston, steer it down the coast, to Washington...Philadelphia...Detroit...Chicago—go west, young man!—to San Francisco, before concluding the show in L.A. " but this was written in 1989. Probably a grand plan that was changed a lot.

The plan had changed by February

Trump joined Delaware officials in Wilmington to discuss details of the race, in its second year. This year's event will begin in Wilmington May 4 and conclude more than 1,000 miles later in Boston on May 13.

13 stages in this year.


1991 Tour Du Pont

Race was organised/directed by a group/company called "Medalist Sports Inc." of Richmond, Va, according to http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-11-16/sports/1990320048_1_tour-du-pont-tour-de-trump-medalist-sports

Eileen Webber, a spokeswoman for Du Pont, said: "We just made the announcement of our sponsorship of the race and, as yet, we haven't had a chance to negotiate with any cities. I'm sure most the cities involved the last two years will be high on the list for the race next May." Same source.

So the first Du Pont one was probably pretty similar to the earlier two courses.


1992

Nothing found


1993

Nothing found


1994

Nothing found


1995

Nothing found


1996 Final Year.

Won by Lance Armstrong, 12 day event.


Other info

A random image found http://d7ab823tjbf2qywyt3grgq63.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IMG_6458.gif

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  • Good sleuthing!
    – FreeMan
    Jul 6, 2016 at 14:58
  • Very nice! I've reached out to both Medalist Sports and Trump Corp (not DuPont yet)...not getting my hopes up.
    – Ealhmund
    Jul 6, 2016 at 18:23
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    15° is about 26% While Devils Kitchen averages 10%, according to Strava, and parts get to 20% it's not that steep!
    – andy256
    Nov 22, 2016 at 2:41
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    @criggie - some minor corrections to the sentence about “non-trumpian” towns. The names are “New Paltz”, “Front Royal” and “Allentown”. It isn’t enough changes that I’m allowed to submit it as a proposed edit
    – Andrew
    Feb 1, 2021 at 12:35
  • @Andrew thank you - looks like the original source was incorrect. Good spotting!
    – Criggie
    Feb 1, 2021 at 18:42
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I know this thread is super old but the 1990 version ran through my home town of Saugerties NY, ran through West Saugerties and up Devils Kitchen into Cairo. Platte Clove/ Devils Kitchen is a very steep incline and my dad was telling me that many of the bicyclist had to get off their bikes cause they couldnt make it up it (this road is closed during the winter because its cut into the mountains)

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    Welcome to the site and thanks for your contribution! Part of the site's goal is to build up a repository of information so the thread being super-old isn't a problem at all: answers with new information are always appreciated. Our short tour has some more details of how the site works. Sep 14, 2018 at 15:01
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Late to the party, but I worked on the 1990 Tour de Trump. I remember a number of the finish line locations.

I also worked on the West Virginia Mountain Classic, which like Tour DuPont, tried to fill the void after Trump dropped their sponsorship. So I may mix up the locations between the races.

WVMC was produced by the same group as the CoreStates US Pro Championship. Dave Chauner, former Olympic cyclist who raced in Europe was involved in producing the races.

Tour DuPont was produced by a different group (perhaps the same group as Tour de Trump) and I didn't work on that event. I think Tour de Trump, West Virginia Mountain Classic, and the Core States USPro Championships were all sanctioned by USA Cycling, not United States Cycling Foundation (USCF). If I remember it was a professional vs. amateur issue.

Tour de Trump

  1. It started with a time trial at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, DE.
  2. Wilmington, DE to Baltimore, MD Inner Harbor.
  3. Missing stages...
  4. Stage Finish in Charlottesville, VA
  5. Missing stages...
  6. Stage Finish in Harrisburg, PA
  7. There was a stage or time trial based around the Trexlertown Velodrome.
  8. Circuit Race or stage finish in Bethlehem PA
  9. Transport to NYC
  10. Central Park Criterium, NYC.
  11. Stage Finish in Albany, NY.
  12. Transport to Western MA, probably Amherst.
  13. Finish line was in Boston, MA. I think it was on the West side of the Boston Commons.

Either Tour de Trump, or West Virginia Mountain Classic:

  1. Morgantown WV. (Might have been the starting stage for WVMC)
  2. Greenbriar Hotel (Also may have been WVMC)
  3. A couple ski resorts in WV. I remember one stage start line was moved from the mountain top where the previous day finished to the valley for because of an overnight snowstorm.

Someone posted a video of the 1990 Tour de Trump. I haven't watched it, it's 83 minutes. <https.www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ufHfCZGN4>

This article has a photo of the 1989 race program cover with all the stages listed. <www.cyclingnews.com/features/when-president-trump-inaugurated-the-1989-tour-de-trump/>

Some photos and background, more about the business of putting together a race. Mentions some locations like the 1989 race finishing on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in front of the Trump casino. <www.businessinsider.com/tour-de-trump-bike-race-atlantic-city-history-photos>

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  • Nice work - thank you for sharing the memories and welcome to the site.
    – Criggie
    Feb 1, 2021 at 8:40
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I have a shirt still from when I lived in Harrisonburg VA and a stage ended there. Can't remember the year. I remember being excited about seeing someone but it might have been Greg not Lance. I don't know what happened to pics I took at finish line.

enter image description here

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The 1990 edition had a stage in/around Bethlehem, PA. I don't know exact date or route but do know it did at least two loops, probably three, around the city. Route climbed The Hill at Lehigh University. I believe it finished on New Street.

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