LAHORE, Jan 16: Six countries have confirmed their participation in the 13th Tour-de-Pakistan International cycle race to be held from Karachi to Peshawar from March 4 to 18.

Pakistan Cycling Federation secretary, Khawaja Idris Haider, said on Tuesday that Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Germany and Canada would compete in the race along with Pakistan.

The race, he said, comprises 11 stages and it had a total journey of around 1700Kms.

To prepare the Pakistani cyclists for the big event, he said, the federation would hold one-month training camp at Islamabad from Feb 1.

The federation, he said, had advised all its affiliated units including Army, Railways, Wapda, Sui Southern Gas Company and all the four provinces to send four young cyclists for the training camp. The age of the cyclists must be between 16 to 20 years.

He said to hone the skills of the Pakistani cyclists the services of Nathan of New Zealand had been hired and he would arrive in Pakistan on Jan 27 to train the boy in the camp.