Sandton - Twenty cycling teams, including six from South Africa, will take part in the inaugural Tour of South Africa in February, Cycling SA said on Thursday.
It said the tour would be sponsored by Cell C and would be known as the Cell C Tour of South Africa 2011.
"2010 was a big year for the country and with no world cup events happening in South Africa this year, this is the closest we, as a country, will get to ignite our national pride once again," said Cell C marketing head Simon Camerer.
"We have a large number of customers who enjoy and participate in cycling and the growth of the sport is phenomenal. It’s important for us to support what our customers do, and one way to do that is through sport sponsorship," he said.
The Tour is a Union Cycliste Internationale-sanctioned 2.2 category, eight day, seven stage road race over 1 200km, starting in Pretoria and finishing in Paarl.