March 08, 2007	Thursday	Safar 18, 1428

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RAHIM YAR KHAN, March 7: It was encore time for the first stage winner Robin Read again. After lying low for two stages, the Kiwi cyclist once again displayed his competency on the wheels by winning the 178-km fourth stage of the 13th Tour de Pakistan International Cycle Race from Sukkur to Rahim Yar Khan.

Read reached the finishing line in 4 hours, 49 minutes and 32 seconds and has once again emerged as one of the favorites to go all the way to the top. On March 4, the first day of the race, Read clinched the 153-km first stage of the Race from Karachi to Hyderabad while his countryman Justin Kerr finished at second.

Through most part of the 178-km stretch, all forty-eight cyclists moved in tandem and there was no break as such. As the race came close to a finish, the bearded Kiwi broke away from a group of riders and was able to build strong lead which he held on to till the finish point. Read was followed at close range by Pakistan Army’s Ghulam Abbas who finished off the job 18 seconds later. Lary Zimich Wayne of Canada who had maintained a near constant run in the second and third stages by securing third and fourth positions finished third clocking 4 hours, 40 minutes and 45 seconds.

Dil Sher Ali of WAPDA, Matthew Usborne of Canada and Mohammad Saleem of Pakistan Army secured fourth, fifth and sixth spots respectively, all of them reaching the finishing line in 4 hrs, 40 minutes and 41 seconds. The fourth stage was progressing smoothly till Afghanistan’s Nazir Ahmed collided with a motorcyclist and was injured in the process. He was immediately rushed to the hospital.

Early this morning, on a sunny Sukkur morning fourth-eight riders left for Rahim Yar Khan at 8.17 am. Shafiq Ahmed Khoro, DCO Sukkur awarded yellow jersey to Mohammad Sabir who had won yesterday’s third stage between Moro to Sukkur.

March 8 is a rest day for the cyclists who would leave for Bahawalpur the next day and will cover a 76 km distance.