A total of 147 riders from 21 teams will form the line-up for the 2009 Qinghai Lake tour, including three UCI pro-continental teams, 13 UCI Continental teams, four natioanl teams and a regional team.

These teams were chosen through application, said Chen Yonghua, member with the organizing committee.

"Tour of Qinghai Lake appeals to more teams and riders, as 41 teams, six more than last year, applied for the race," said Chen.

Three UCI pro-continental teams -- Czetch PSK, Netherlands SKS, Venezuela SDA -- will be taking part as well as 13 UCI contenental teams including Australia CDU, Iran TPT and the Marco Polo team which is based in China.

A file photo of the previous Qinghai Lake tour. A total of 147 riders from 21 teams will form the line-up for the 2009 Qinghai Lake tour, including three UCI pro-continental teams, 13 UCI Continental teams, four natioanl teams and a regional team.

Six UCI continental teams will race at Qinghai Lake Tour for the first time, including Praties from Australia, Loborika from Croatia, Capinordic from Denmark, Rapha-Condor from Britain, Utensilnord from Poland and Neotel-Stegcomputer from South Africa.

Poland, Slovenia, Ukraine and China will also attend with their national teams.

Tabriz Petrochemical from Iran will join this year's race again after a strong showing at last year's Qinghai Lake Tour. The strong team in the mountains ranked top of team classification, Asian teams classification and mountain classification at last year's race.

The number of Chinese riders will hit a record high, as five teams are made up of Chinese cylists, including Taipei Giant Asia Racing team, China natioanl team, Hong Kong Team, Max success Sports and Qinghai Tianyoude Cycling Team. The last two teams registered at UCI Contenental level this year.

Billed as "the highest race in the world", the 2009 Tour de Qinghai Lake will last from July 17 to 26, covering an overall distance of 1,355 kilometers, including 1,280 kilometers in racing, and reaching a dizzy altitude of nearly 4,000 meters (about 13,123 feet).

Starting at Xining, 2,200 meters above sea level and the provincial capital of northwest China's Qinghai province, the race will cover a prologue and nine stages. Much of the nine days of racing to follow are centered around the remarkable natural wonder Qinghai Lake, the largest inland saltwater lake in China.

Three stages are to be added to the race, as a result, for the first time ever the riders will race into Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Huangnan, a typical Tibetan area dubbed as "hometown of Rekong Buddhist arts". The Tibetan ethnic culture, with indigenous characteristics, will give the riders and entourage a unique experience unlike any other race in the world.

A tantalizing 300,000 U.S. dollars is up for grabs in this year's event, the same amount of total prize money as last year.

Zhao Weili, member of the organizing committee, said that this year's race will neither be postponed nor cancelled for the outbreak of H1N1 flu, considering participating teams' event calendar. If any participating team can not travel to China to contest the tour for H1N1 flu problems, they will invite other teams that have applied for the event to come.

(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2009)