Thomas Lautaback of Germany won the 12th Tour De Pakistan International Cycle Race 2005 with a lead of 20 minutes over his closest Haroon Rashid of Pakistan Wapda on crossing the finishing line here in front of the historical Balahisar Fort in Peshawar. However, the winner of the finishing stage was Abdul Ahad of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) with Noor Mohammad of Sindh is runner up in the finishing state of the race. Naveed Commando of Sindh clinched the third and fourth positions and Wahid Nourozi.
The race was started from the Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi on 11 March and took 13 days to reach Peshawar. The winner of the race Thomas Lautaback took 45-57-6 time to reach the finishing line while Haroon Rashid of Pakistan Wapda took 46-4-13, with a difference of 20 minutes to remain runner up. Other positions were Dil Sher Ali (Wapda) 46-4-28. Imran Sharif SSGC, 46-7-24, Wahid Nourozi 46-11-22 and Asif of Pakistan Railways 46-12-34.
A total of 11 teams participated in the 12th Tour De Pakistan International Cycle Race with the teams of Iran with top performance, as a whole while Afghanistan remained the last 11.
The winner Thomas of Germany was given an amount of US $4000 as prize award while the Haroon Rashid of Wapda was given Rs 400,000 cash as prize. The others including Wahid Nourozi and Farooq another German cyclist was were given US $2500 each while the remaining Muslim Taimuri, Meysam Kiani and Raza Karim Dadi were handed over cash amount of US $1000 each. The other foreigners who reached the finishing point were also awarded US $100 each.
The Pakistani players participated in the race were Haroon Rashid runner up with prize of Rs 400,000, Dil Sher Ali Rs 2, 50,000, Imran Sharif Rs 1, 50,000, Mohammad Asif Rs 100, 000 cash and Malik Bashir Rs 50, 000 while eight other national cyclists who crossed over the finishing point were given Rs 6,000 each.
Speaking on the occasion, as chief guest, NWFP Minister for Sports, Raja Faisal Zaman appreciated the holding of the race and said that in future all such events in province would be organised with the co-operation of the associations concerned. He announced that the cyclists of the province would be given new cycles.
For encouragement of the domestic participants, he announced a cash prize of Rs 50, 000 for Abdul Ahmad of SSGC, Rs 30, 000 for Noor Mohammad and Rs 20, 000 for Naveed Commando.
He urged the foreign cyclists and coaches to take a message of peace and modernism from the province to their countries. He said that the people of the province are moderate and interested in the promotion of the sports activities in the country. "We are sports loving, having experience and talent to promote the process in our country," the sports minister concluded.
Others who address on the occasion were including Senior Vice President, Pakistan Cycling Federation, Manawar Baseer and Secretary Khawaja Idris while the office bearers of the NWFP Cycling Association were also present on the occasion.