KARACHI, March 6: Mohammad Sabir of Sindh blasted his rivals to score a super win to take the 150 km third stage from Moro to Sukkur in the 13th Tour-de-Pakistan international cycle race, reaching the finishing line in 3 hrs, 49 minutes and 31 seconds. In doing so, Sabir became the first Pakistani to finish on the top since the race began on March 4.

Hot in the heels was Siddiqe Masih of SSGC, who pedaled hard, particularly in the last kilometer of the race when he outmanoeuvred Naimat Ali, also of SSGC, to finish second on the 150km stretch.

Masih, who hails from Lahore, arrived in second position by a mere 8 seconds behind the winner Sabir.

Naimat Ali was third overall clocking 3 hours, 49 minutes and 43 seconds although for most part of the race he was at least a kilometer ahead from the runner-up Siddique Masih

Layy Zimich Wayne of Canada, who finished third yesterday on the Hyderabad-Moro trail, managed fourth place while New Zealand’s Robin Read, the first stage winner and Mohammad Ashraf of Pakistan Railway secured fourth and fifth places respectively, all three of them reaching the finishing line in 3 hrs, 50 minutes and 31 seconds.

The riders will start from Sukkur for the 4th stage of the race towards Rahim Yar Khan and will cover 178 km of distance. They are covering a distance of 1,648km with the race culminating on March 16, at Qila Bala Hisar in Peshawar with further stopovers at Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Sahiwal, Lahore, Gujrat and Rawalpindi.—Agencies