The 14th Tour of Slovenia, the biggest cycling event in the tiny former Yugoslav country, kicked off on Tuesday at the Preseren Square in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

The 835-km race, which will end on June 16, will feature four Slovenian and 11 foreign teams, including some of the world-class ProTour teams such as Lampre and Liquigas, the Slovenian news agency STA reported.

This year's race, which is divided into five stages, is going international again. The finish of the first stage will be in the Croatian capital Zagreb while the third stage will end in Villach of Austria. A part of the fourth, mountain stage will run through Italy.

The biggest names of the race will be Italy's Stefano Garzelli of Acqua and Sapone, the winner of the 2000 Giro d'Italia, and his cousins Fabio Baldato and Danilo Napolitano of Lampre.

According to experts, the biggest favorites in Slovenian teams are last year's winner Tomaz Nose of Adria Mobil, and two-time winner Mitja Mahoric of Perutnina Ptuj.

Source: Xinhua