Giro d'Italia 2015: Richie Porte to lead Team Sky squad

Richie Porte did not compete in last year's event

Australian Richie Porte will lead British-based Team Sky in the Giro d'Italia, the year's first Grand Tour.

The 30-year-old, who has won the Paris-Nice, Volta a Catalunya and Giro del Trentino this season, heads a nine-man squad that features no British riders.

Chris Froome will continue his build-up to the Tour de France, which he won in 2013, at June's Criterium de Dauphine.

Geraint Thomas is the other notable absentee for Team Sky, who saw Sir Bradley Wiggins depart in April.

Last year's winner Nairo Quintana and Tour de France champion Vicenzo Nibali will also not compete in the 98th edition of the 21-stage race, which starts in San Lorenzo on 9 May and concludes in Milan on 31 May.

Porte's squad features the Italian duo Salvatore Puccio and Elia Viviani, alongside Bernhard Eisel, Sebastian Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, Leopold Konig, Mikel Nieve and Kanstantsin Siutsou.

He said: "The Giro d'Italia has been my main goal of the season.

"Anything can happen in a Grand Tour, but we've got a great group of riders and we are ready for it."

Chris Froome, 29, won the Tour de France in 2013

Froome, who finished third in the Tour de Romandie on Sunday, said: "It is a long season and we still have two months till the start of the Tour de France.

"I am now going off on a training camp at high altitude before competing in the Dauphine."