HÀ NỘI — The annual international women’s cycling tournament, Bình Dương Open, will be held from March 8-16 with a large number of foreign participants.

This year, nine foreign clubs from eight countries have registered to compete at the nine-stage event. This is the largest number of foreign teams to participate in the tournament. Among them, Japan, Thailand and South Korea are regular competitors, while a team from the Netherlands will take part for the first time.

Nine local crews will join the foreign participants on the road, taking the total number of cyclists to 138.

The eighth edition of the competition will be spread across 841km, including through Đồng Nai, Lâm Đồng, Khánh Hòa, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, Bình Dương and other cities and provinces.

The competitors will fight for VNĐ400 million (US$18,000), while the yellow jersey winner will take home VNĐ45 million ($2,000).

The first stage of the competition will be for 66km around new Bình Dương City on March 8. — VNS

In box

Routes- Stage 1 (March 8): Around new Bình Dương City (66km)- Stage 2 (March 9): Định Quán District, Đồng Nai Province-Bảo Lộc City, Lâm Đồng Province (93km)- Stage 3 (March 10): Bảo Lộc-Đà Lạt City (112km)- Stage 4 (March 11): Around Xuân Hương Lake in Đà Lạt (50km)- Stage 5 (March 12): Nha Trang City, Khánh Hòa Province-Phan Rang City, Ninh Thuận Province (120km)- Stage 6 (March 13): Phan Rang-Phan Thiết City, Bình Thuận Province (115km)- Stage 7 (March 14): Around Phan Thiết (50km)- Stage 8 (March 15): Phan Thiết-Vũng Tàu City, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province (120km)- Stage 9 (March 16): Vũng Tàu-Bình Dương (115km)