The Tour DuPont was a cycling stage race

Stage (bicycle race)

In sports, a stage, or leg, or heat, is a unit of a race which has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages are held as an individual time trial or a...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 held between 1991 and 1996. It was intended to become a North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n cycling event similar in format and prestige to the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

. The tour's name came from its sponsor, DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

. The race was held in the Mid-Atlantic States

Mid-Atlantic States

The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...

, including areas near DuPont's Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

 headquarters.

The event attracted high-level competitors, including Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong

Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...

 and Greg LeMond

Greg LeMond

Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....

, and was attended by high profile European based cycling teams. After the sixth running in 1996, however, DuPont dropped its sponsorship and the race has not been run since.

Before the creation of the Tour DuPont, a similar race sponsored by Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

 and known as the Tour de Trump

Tour de Trump

The Tour de Trump was a road bicycle race in the United States held in 1989 and 1990 and was sponsored by Donald Trump. The Tour DuPont replaced the Tour de Trump, from 1991 to 1996.- 1989 Tour de Trump :...

 was run in 1989 and 1990.

Results and notable moments

The initial race, in 1991, witnessed an exciting finish, as the Netherlands' Erik Breukink

Erik Breukink

Erik Breukink is a former professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, Breukink reached the podium in Paris, finishing 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France...

 of team PDM came from 50 seconds behind despite a flat tire to defeat Atle Kvalsvoll

Atle Kvålsvoll

Atle Sturla Kvålsvoll is a former professional cyclist from Norway. He rode the Tour de France six times between 1988 and 1994, finishing four times...

 on the streets of Wilmington, Delaware. That year also saw the first occasion in which an American held the overall lead in the nation's premier race, when Greg Oravetz of the Coors Light

Coors Light

Coors Light is a light beer produced by the Coors Brewing Company. It was first produced in 1978.The beer has a "Cold Certified" label which turns the mountains on the label from white to blue when the beer's temperature is lowered to 4 degrees Celsius .- Promotions :In 2008, Coors Light became...

 team took the yellow jersey

Yellow jersey

The general classification in the Tour de France is the most important classification, the one by which the winner of the Tour de France is determined. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey .-History:...

 on a breakaway in Arlington, Virginia.

The next year saw the first American winner of the tour in Tour de France champion Greg LeMond; his teammate Kvalsvoll finished second for the second year running, supporting LeMond over the final three days even though only one second separated the two riders.

1993's tour witnessed the first stirrings of a future cycling star, as Lance Armstrong, riding for team Motorola

Motorola

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

, challenged team WordPerfect

Rabobank (cycling)

Rabobank is a professional bicycle racing team, sponsored by the Rabobank. The team consists of three sections: ProTeam , Continental , and Cyclo-cross...

's Raúl Alcalá

Raul Alcala

Raúl Alcalá is a professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 1985 and 1999 and again in 2008. In 1986, Alcalá became the first Mexican cyclist to compete in the Tour de France. In the 1987 Tour de France, he received the Maillot blanc, awarded to the best rider under 25...

 for the victory; Alcala triumphed after outperforming Armstrong in a 36-mile (59 km) time trial, but the young American finished second.

Another WordPerfect rider, Viatcheslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov , nicknamed Eki, is a Russian former professional racing cyclist...

, captured the overall victory in 1994, with Armstrong placing second for a second year running. The American finally broke through to the winner's spot on the podium the next year, outcompeting Ekimov and Andrea Peron

Andrea Peron

Andrea Peron is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. Peron turned professional in 1993, riding for team Gatorade...

. Armstrong also won the final tour in 1996; France's Pascal Hervé

Pascal Hervé

Pascal Hervé is a former French road racing cyclist. He was tested positive for EPO after the prologue in 2001 Giro d'Italia.- Major achievements :1994Pascal Hervé is a former French road racing cyclist...

 finished second.

Past winners