HAVANA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The 33rd edition of Tour of Cuba cycling championship has attracted teams from 10 nations, including Cuba, the organizing committee said on Monday.
The cycling's Tour of Cuba will be held from Feb. 5 to Feb. 17. Leading teams include national teams from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic; Volvo Orlando Velo, from United States state Florida; Perutnina Ptuj, from Slovakia; Mexican teams Tecos Uga and Canels-Turbo; and teams from Poland, Guatemala and Spain.
Among the 14 Cuban teams are those from the Manuel Fajardo Higher Physical Culture Institute and the Technical Centre in Cuban city Cienfuegos.
The race will cover 1,797km, 150km less than in the previous edition, in 13 stages. It will begin in Baracoa in the eastern Cuba province of Guantanamo and end in Cuban capital city Havana.
This edition will also include two stages that have not been used since 1990 and one entirely new stage.
One change will be to race to the eastern city of Manzanillo during the third stage. Another is holding the time trial running from the city of Moron to Ciego de Avila on the seventh day of racing: Feb. 11. This will run 34 km from Moron to provincial capital Avila's Hotel Ciego.
This replaces the Matanzas-Varadero stage, which had previously defined the Tour's winners, when there were three stages left. The2008 tour also leaves out tough stage Topes de Collantes, the eighth stage in earlier competitions.
