Faulty Equipment Holds Tomac to 17th in Tour de Trump
On a road outside Gettysburg, Pa., last week, John Tomac of Chatsworth was riding with the leaders in the $250,000 Tour de Trump bicycle race when his derailleur picked the wrong time to fall off.
“It was the turning point in the race,” said Tomac, 21. “I missed a good breakaway fixing the bike. The guys who got away put six minutes on the rest of us.”
Tomac, the 1988 National Off-Road Bicycle Assn. overall champion, managed to finish 17th in the 861-mile event, “my first big road race,” he said. The broken derailleur--”a freak thing”--cost him at least 10 places in the final standings, he said. Tomac finished about 10 minutes behind the eventual winner, Dag Otto Lauritzen of Norway.
“I’m still pleased with the way things went,” Tomac said. “I was riding really strong.”
The 10-day race ended in Atlantic City, N.J., where the riders were greeted by Donald Trump. But “I didn’t meet him,” said Tomac, who placed seventh in the final 24-mile stage.
Tomac plans to take part in a 30-mile mountain race this weekend--the Rockhopper in Vacaville--and will leave this Wednesday for races in England.
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