MEHDI Sohrabi (pic) was temporarily and, controversially, declared the winner in Stage Two of the Tour of Negri Sembilan following a bungle by traffic police 25 metres from the finish.

The Iranian was the sole leader entering the final metres of the stage in Gemas but suddenly a policeman signaled for him to turn left when the finish was straight ahead, halting Mehdi and the chasing group led by Anuar Manan's Le Tua team, causing a pile-up.

The rear of the group avoided the mishap and MCF Cycling Team's Akmal Amrun seemed to benefit from the mix-up, initially taking the victory before it was revised upon protests by the Iranian team.

Mehdi had launched a solo attack five kilometres from the finish, but was slowly reeled in by the front of the bunch. With 25 metres to go and the gradient rising, Mehdi still held a lead of about 15 metres and was looking sure of victory.

Race director Maniam Manikkam said the results were not necessarily subject to change, but it will be decided in a meeting, scheduled for last night, of the panel of commissaires. He did not discount the possibility of the stage being neutralised.
"It was a technical mistake but this will be decided by the commissaires. I agree it was a mistake by the policeman but that does not mean the results have to change drastically. What we saw was that the Iranian and a bunch of Malaysian riders were clearly in front at the time of the incident. But this is up to the commissaires to decide," said Maniam.

Provisionally, the overall lead remained in the hands of Uzbekistan's Vadim Shaekov, winner of Wednesday's opening stage as it was anyway a bunch sprint that finished yesterday's stage. That is also unlikely to change when the peloton clashes on a flat criterium in Seremban for Stage Three today.

Results (provisional): Stage Two (190km from Nilai to Tampin): 1 Mehdi Sohrabi (Iran) 4:51.31s, 2 Jasmin Ruslan (Mas) Terengganu, 3 Akmal Amrun (Mas) MCF, 4 Nor Ridzuan Zainal (Mas) Armed Forces, 5 Gilanipour Abolfazal (Iran) Mes Kerman, 6 Ahmad Haidar Anuawar (Mas) LeTua, 7 Kanbanchee Komsan (Tha), 8 Budi Santoso (Ina) Polygon-Sweet Nice, 9 Fatahillah Abdullah (Ina) Bintang Keranggan, Abdullah Rizza Pahlavi (Ina) Polygon-Sweet Nice -- all same time.

General classification (yellow jersey): 1 Vadim Shaekov (Uzb) 8:06.24s, 2 Ben King (Aus) WA-Plan B +4s, 3 Mehdi Sohrabi (Iran) +55s, 4 Omar Hasanin (Syr) Doha Team +1:03s, 5 Benham Koshroshashi (Iran) +2:22s, ... 8 Faris Abdul Razak (Mas) +2:22s, 10 Rauf Nor Misbah (Mas) +2:22s, 12 Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi (Mas) +2:22s.