CYCLING - GABDER MIZBANI TOUR DE SINGKARAK OVERALL CHAMPION

Padang, W Sumatra, May 4 (ANTARA) - Gabder Mizbani from Tabriz Petrochemical, Iran, emerged the overall champion with 11 hours, 6 minutes, 1 second in the international Tour de Singkarak open-road bicycle race in West Sumatra on Sunday.

Amir Zargari of Azad University, also in Iran, took the second position with 11:06:34, and Cameron Jennings Bugdet Forklifts of Australia finished in 11:06:36.

Gabder Mizbani on the occasion expressed his happiness to win the race for the second time in Indonesia.

"I am happy to win this title," he said, while expressing his appreciation to the host and admiring the beautiful scenery of Minangkabau, another name for West Sumatra province.
In addition, Tabriz Petrochemical won the team category with 6 hrs 9 minutes and 4 seconds.

The international Tour de Singkarak open-road bicycle race was participated in by a number of world-class bicycle racing teams which competed in four segments, namely the Padang-Bukittinggi (92.3 km), Bukittinggi-Sawahlunto (85.1 km), Sawahlunto-Danau Singkarak (90.2 km), and Lake Singkarak-lake Kembar - Lake Singkarak (188 km) segments, for a total cash prize of US$60,000.
Besides ten local teams, the organizing committee also invited teams from 15 other countries to the event including New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Iran, Australia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Qatar.

Apart from that, the PAL Indonesia team won the national category with 33 hrs, 33 minutes, 53 seconds, while Tonton Susanto retained the red-and-white shirt for the national category.

In the meantime, Ezzedine Lagap won the ascending segment with 26 points.

The green jersey (shirt) position was grabbed by Hossein Nateghi of Azad University Team with 13 point.

The Last segment or segment IV covering the Singkarak lake - Kembar lake - Singkarak lake 188,8 km route was led by Hossein Nateghi (Azab University) with 4:39:18 seconds.

The last segment (IV) or last session was grabbed by Rafai Chtioui from Doha Team (4:39:18) and Mehdi Sohrabi of Tabriz Petrochemical.

After the successful race from April 29 to May 3, 2009, Indonesia may again stage the international event next year, Sapta Nirwandar, culture and tourism ministry's director general, said at Singkarak lake quay after closing the event Sunday.

Tour de Singkarak was aimed at combining bicycle racing with tourism as the result of cooperation between the provincial administration, Culture and Tourism Ministry, Indonesian Cycling Association (ISSI), and businessmen.
The Bicycle Racing event also aimed at promoting Indonesian tourism especially West Sumatra with Singkarak Lake as its icon for overseas promotion.
Tour de Singkarak has been recorded in an annual calendar of events in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).