Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso will reunite for the first time since the Giro d'Italia at Saturday's Clásica San Sebastián, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG pair starting as two of the pre-race favourites.
They've taken vastly different approaches to the one-day race, as the men's WorldTour resumes a week after the conclusion of the Tour de France, with this set to be Ayuso's first appearance since he abandoned the Giro due to a lingering knee injury and a bee sting.
Contrastingly, Del Toro has been busy since he finished second at the Giro, and successful, netting five victories from seven race days at the Tour of Austria and Clàssica Terres de l'Ebre. His latest race was at the Ordiziako Klasika, where he finished 1-2 with teammate Igor Arrieta, who also lines up at San Sebastián.
Ayuso and Del Toro arrived at the Giro in May with the former expecting to be the leader, but after a crash on stage 9, the Spaniard lost time and re-injured his knee as Del Toro went into the pink jersey.
The leadership hierarchy changed, and the young Mexican came close to overall victory as he was favoured by UAE to bring home the overall. After Ayuso left the race, Del Toro lost pink to Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the penultimate stage to Sestrière.
There was speculation about their relationship, which remained visibly friendly at the Giro, but also about Ayuso's future, after reportedly hiring a new manager, Giovanni Lombardi, to pursue a move away from UAE, having fallen down the pecking order.
For now, with a contract until 2028, he will remain a UAE rider, and San Sebastián makes up part of his approach to a home Grand Tour appearance at the Vuelta a España, where he will co-lead with João Almeida.
UAE are the defending champions from the Basque one-day race, but don't have Marc Hirschi any longer as he leads Tudor, though they probably still have the strongest team on paper.
Also among their biggest rivals will be Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), as a mixed peloton of Tour de France finishers and those eyeing the Vuelta take the start.
"I’m excited to be heading back to San Sebastián. The Basque fans are really passionate about cycling and always bring a special atmosphere," said Del Toro.
"The team is on a great wave at the moment. We are working hard and enjoying ourselves at the races, and I think things are flowing well. The level at San Sebastián will be high, but I feel with the team we have, we can be competitive."
Joining Ayuso, Del Toro, and Arrieta is a stacked, punchy squad: Jan Christen, Alessandro Covi, Domen Novak and Jay Vine, several of whom will also be at the Vuelta from August 23.
Saturday's Clásica San Sebastián will be decided over a 211.4km course through the challenging Basque hills, with the well-known Jaizkibel and Erlaitz climbs set to split things in the final 60km. The final ascent over Murgil-Tontorra will bring the leaders into descent down towards the San Sebastián finish.
