16th Tour de Pakistan to begin March 8

The 16th Tour de Pakistan Cycling Race, also known as the ‘longest race in Asia’, will be staged this year from March 8 in Karachi, and will culminate on March 20 at the hilly summer resort of Abbottabad, President of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cycling Association Syed Azhar Ali Shah stated on Thursday.

Shah claimed that preparations for the event were in full swing and that cyclists from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, South Africa, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia were expected to make up the foreign teams for the 1,620 kilometers race.

The race, modeled after the Tour de France, used to be 22 stages long and 2,200 kilometers in length, but was reduced in 2007 to 1,648 kilometers and 11 stages.
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“Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) wants to promote such events because right now most of the focus was on track cycling,” Shah said.

The grueling race has become one of the longest and toughest in Asia which has seen international teams compete alongside Pakistani teams. The current prize money is $10,000 which will be shared between the top six teams.

The 15th Tour de Pakistan started on March 1, 2010 and cyclists from different parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan participated in it. Zahid Gulfam of Wapda, now suspended for doping, won the race by covering distance of 1,655 km in 46 hours 13 minutes and 9 seconds and received US$ 2,500. Nisar Ahmed got second position and won US$ 1,500, while third position holder Hashmatullah of Afghanistan received US$ 1,000.

Fourth to sixth position winners received US$ 750 each.

Haroon Rashid of Pakistan Wapda won the Tour in 2001, followed by Zahid Gulfam of Pakistan Wapda in 2003, Thomas Lodburaey of Germany in 2005, Robin Reid of New Zealand in 2007, Naimat Ali of Pakistan SSCG in 2008 and Zahid Gulfam of Pakistan Wapda in 2010.

The race in stages:
March 8: Karachi to Hyderabad 150km
March 9: Hyderabad to Moro 163km
March 10: Moro to Sukkur 150km
March 11: Sukkur-Rahim Yar Khan 178km
March 12: Rest Day at Rahim Yar Khan
March 13: Rahim Yar Khan-Bahawalpur 200km
March 14: Bahawalpur to Multan 90km
March 15: Multan to Sahiwal 154km
March 16: Sahiwal-Lahore 160km
March 17: Rest Day at Lahore
March 18: Lahore to Gujrat 115km
March 19: Gujrat to Rawalpindi 150km
March 20: Rawalpindi to Abbottabad 110km