An Post Rás stage winner Eoin Morton has been handed the onerous task of leading the Irish national team into battle in this year’s contest which starts in Dublin on Sunday.

Eoin Morton won his first major stage race yesterday when he claimed overall victory in the AmberGreen Energy Tour of Ulster in Moy, Co Tyrone.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan have been named in Team Sky’s nine-man roster for the Giro d’Italia, which gets under way this Friday in the Netherlands.