KARACHI, March 5: New Zealand’s Justin Kerr, riding like a man possessed, outpaced his fellow countryman at Robin Read to clinch the second stage of the 13th Tour de Pakistan International Cycle Race on Monday.

The two Kiwis may have started the race together at around 8.45 am for senod stage – from Hyderabad to Moro covering a distance of 163 km - but very soon on the Hyderabad-Moro Highway, Kerr started an infernal rhythm and soon snatched the initiative.

Through most part of the 160 km stretch, Kerr maintained a formidable distance of at least 3km from Read who tried desperately to catch on. Kerr continued to ride like a wind and reached the finishing line having covered the distance in 4 hours, 39 minutes and 49 seconds, beating Read by just eight seconds.

On third place was Canadian Layy Zimich Wayne who rode brilliantly throughout the race but could never prevail over his outstanding opponents. The lanky Canadian finished off the job at 4 hours, 43 minutes and 52 seconds and has emerged as a formidable opponent for the other riders.

The closeness of the results of stage two was evident from the fact that Mohammad Asif of Pakistan Railways, Sudeer Nilanga of Sri Lanka and Matthew Usborne of Canada secured fourth, fifth and sixth position at almost the same time.

In all sixty-three cyclists rode off into the second stage while five of them had to retire or drop out at various points.

The race on Tuesday resumes from Moro at 8:30am for its third stage which runs upto Sukkur, a distance of 150km.

The riders are covering a distance of 1,648 km with the race culminating on March 16, 2007 at Qila Bala Hisar in Peshawar with stopovers at further stopovers at Sukkur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Sahiwal, Lahore, Gujrat and Rawalpindi.

The grueling two-week cycling event, Asia’s longest race and jointly organized by Pakistan Cycling Federation and SSGC, features foreign teams from Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and New Zealand cyclists, apart from hosts Pakistan. Cyclists from four provinces of Pakistan and four departmental teams including SSGC, WAPDA, Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Army are also participating in one of Asia’s biggest cycling events.—Agencies