UAE Team Emirates-XRG have announced their lineup for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with João Almeida and Isaac del Toro heading to France as co-leaders.
The pair will both be making their debuts at the race and will do battle against a host of other major GC contenders, including Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Lidl-Trek pairing Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose, and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Ayuso and Del Toro will be joined at the race, previously known as the Critérium du Dauphiné, by teammates Pablo Torres, Pavel Sivakov, Benoît Cosnefroy, Kevin Vermaerke, and Ivo Oliveira.
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Del Toro won the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico during the spring and hasn't raced since suffering a thigh muscle tear in a crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April.
Almeida, meanwhile, finished third in February's Volta ao Algarve, but missed his first goal of the season at the Giro d'Italia after struggling with illness in March and April.
The pair will be racing together for only the fourth time, with their last joint outing coming when Del Toro supported Almeida to victory at Itzulia last season.
"I'm excited for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It's my first time at the race, and I hope it will be the start of a beautiful summer of racing in France for me. Training has been going well, and things are going in the right direction," Del Toro said ahead of the race, which runs from June 7-14.
"The level of racing will be high, no doubt, as a lot of the peloton are preparing for the Tour, but I think we are ready. It's been a while now since my last race and I'm excited to pin a race number on again."
With victories at four of the week-long WorldTour stage races on their combined palmarès, Del Toro and Almeida would normally line up as top favourites for victory here.
However, both are making their racing return following illness and injury, and neither has raced in recent months. Del Toro will be tuning up ahead of the Tour de France, where he'll support Tadej Pogačar, while Almeida's future schedule is as yet unconfirmed.
French racer Benoît Cosnefroy will be another key rider in the UAE lineup. It's his first year at the team. He's been one of their most successful riders during the first five months of the season, picking up four wins, including last month's GP du Morbihan and the recent Boucles de la Mayenne.
He and the rest of the UAE squad will tackle 1,208km of racing over eight days in France, including a 28.4km team time trial and summit finishes at the Plateau de Solaison, the Grand Colombier, and Crest-Voland.
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