Eleven professional cycling teams will take part in the third Tour de Qinghai Lake international cycling race, five more than last year, the organizing body of the tournament announced in Xining, capital city of Qinghai Province, northwest China. "The Tour de Qinghai Lake has attracted more first-class teams and riders this year." said Feng Jianping, in charge of the organizing work of the event.

According to Feng, 11 professional teams, seven national ones and two regional ones have decided to compete at the newly-upgraded tour. Comparing to six professional teams that all classified in TT3 grade last year, there are four TT1-grade, two TT2-grade and five TT3-grade teams on the entry list this year.

Since the Tour de Qinghai Lake race has been promoted from 2.5-category to 2.3-category by the International Cycling Union (UCI), only inferior to 2.1-category races, more top riders from France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United States, etc. choose to vie for the championship at the "highest" tour of the world.

"The route and stages have already been settled," said Feng, "There will be nine stages in all, one more than last year, with the lowest altitude of 2,200 meters and the highest of 3,792 meters."

Although the yearly-held Tour de Qinghai Lake international cycling race is just entering its third year, it has become the best and most famous race in China and one of the best in Asia.

"Along the 1,291.8-kilometer course, the cyclists would enjoy the beautiful scene of the Qinghai Lake and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau while benefiting from riding at high altitudes. I guess these are two main reasons for more professional teams to join thetour." Ma Peihua, Vice Governor of Qinghai Province said.

The nine-day race will open up on July 17. China will field its National team, Qinghai Province team and Hong Kong team in the race.

Source: Xinhua