Int'l cycling tournament opens in Vietnam's capital

HANOI, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Eighty athletes from six Vietnamese clubs and six foreign ones are competing at an international cycling tournament which kicked off here on Sunday.

A Dutch cyclist finished first at the first of the 14 stages of the 15-day tournament, which took place in Vietnam's Hanoi capital on Sunday, followed by a Vietnamese and a South Korean.

The second stage will take place on Monday, covering a distance of 149 km from Hanoi to central Thanh Hoa province.

The 14-stage tournament is to cover a total distance of 1,843 km with the last stage slated for Sept. 16 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The tournament's cash prizes total 1.3 billion Vietnamese dong (56,500 U.S. dollars), according to the Vietnam Cycling Federation. Enditem