Nicolas Roche had an encouraging start to the Giro d’Italia yesterday when he posted a time of 11 minutes 33 seconds for the opening stage of the three-week race.

NICOLAS ROCHE’S goal of a top-10 finish in this year’s Tour de France is over after a nightmare day on Saturday when he conceded almost seven minutes to his main rivals and dropped back from 11th to 18th on the overall classification.

MATT BRAMMEIER (HTC Highroad) completed a remarkable weekend when he reclaimed the elite road race championship title yesterday while also taking the national time-trial crown on Friday night at Emyvale, Monaghan.