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A Boston Globe sportswriter, Dan Shaughnessy. headlined “Just What is Trump Trying to Pedal Here?” His satirical spirit seems to have been animated by annoyance that a bike race could be considered a major sporting event at all, and he called it “the worst named sporting event in the history of sports.” Another Globe writer, cyclist Susan Bickelhaupt, who regularly covered the Tour de France, was even more critical, quoting an observer in Wilmington, DE, “Why didn’t he just call it the ‘Tour de Me!’ Bickelhaupt went on: “To top it off, the T-Man couldn’t even see fit to hop onto his own shuttle [Trump Shuttle] and say hello to the cyclists, who rode more than 1,000 miles, and to the fans, who flocked to Copley Square on a drizzling afternoon.”
In the end, Mexican legend Alcalá won in the overall standing for a prize check of $50,000 and a motorcycle. Two Soviet racers finished 4th and 5th, and three Americans, all Coloradans, finished 6th 7th and 9th. Tour de France winner LeMond placed 78th of the 87 racers who finished. Trump failed to show up at any of the 1990 stages, and as his marriage and financial empire teetered, he abandoned the race with a year remaining on his three-year commitment. Still, Bicycle Guide adorned its cover page issue about the race: “Show Time! Don’s Broke, Ivana’s Out. But the Tour de Trump is America’s Greatest Race.”
Bicycling History 