Although the Tour de France is done and dusted, the cycling season remains in full swing and the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastián will see many of the world's best riders heading straight down to the Basque Country to do their thing in this celebrated summer classic.

Since its inception in 1981, the race has earned a reputation as one of the toughest one-day contests on the UCI ProTour, and at 234km, it is also one of the longest. The route for 2010 has been totally revamped but it remains as hilly as ever, and only a select bunch of riders are likely to be in contention when the race reaches its traditional conclusion on the Avenida del Boulevard.

Team Sky's eight-man squad appears perfectly-suited for such terrain though, with hardened climbers like John-Lee Augustyn, Dario Cioni, Serge Pauwels and Morris Possoni being joined by all-rounders such as Sylvain Calzati, Russell Downing, Juan Antonio Flecha and Nicolas Portal.

The race begins, as usual, near the Playa de la Concha beach in San Sebastián and heads immediately inland into the undulating Gipuzkoa province. The Altos de Orlo (90m at 19km - category 3) and Garate (250m at 29.4km - category 2) are looming early in the day and breakaways traditionally form on the slopes of the latter.

The profile continues to rise steadily as the riders continue south towards Zumárraga (71.5km), but the climbs up the Altos de Azkarate and Udana have been omitted this year in favour of a far tougher conclusion.

The Altos de Jaizkibel (455m - category 1) and Arkale (210m - category 2) normally only appear once in the race's parcours, but this year the organisers have included them twice in a bid to whittle down the field even further.

The Jaizkibel is undoubtedly the toughest climb of the day and its 8km face has sections which ramp up to a muscle-pounding 9% gradient. Attacks on the second ascent of this beast could well prove decisive, and once the short, sharp Arkale has been overcome, there's a precipitous descent back into San Sebastián.

The final three kilometres are more-or-less flat and any riders that have survived thus far must then sprint it out along the wide boulevard in the heart of the city centre.