SANYA, South China, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Twenty teams will compete in the Tour of Hainan International Road Cycling Race, slated for Nov. 11 to 19, organizers said here on Tuesday.

    A total of 140 athletes from the twenty teams including UCI continental professional teams, continental teams, national teams and regional teams will compete for the total prize money of 250,000 U.S. dollars.

    Among the participating teams, nine are debutants, including ELK HAUS from Austria, LeTua Cycling Team L2A from Malaysia, SeoulCycling Team, Subway Avanti Cycling Team from New Zealand, AC Sparta Praha from Czech Republic, Carmiooro A-Style from Italy, Savings and Loans Cycling Team from Australia, National Team The Netherlands and Slovenia National team.

    Other 11 teams have ever competed in the race, namely Chinese National Team, Hong Kong China Team, Russia Team, Kazakhstan National Team, Ukraine National Team, Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team, Giant Asia Racing Team, Polygon Sweet Nice Team from Indonesia, Nutrixxion Sparkasee Team from Germany, Jelly Belly Cycling Team from the USA and MROZ Continental Team from Poland.

    Tour of Hainan, having been successfully held for three years since 2006, has upgraded to 2.HC level, top in Asia this year.

    The nine-stage race, covering over 1,400 kilometers through the Hainan island, will start and end in Sanya, a world famous tropical tourist city.