The crowds aren't deterred though:

The Tour of Britain has begun in Newmarket with a procession until the race starts properly at Cotton End Road in Exning.

If you're planning to catch sight of the Tour of Britain, external as it travels from Newmarket to Aldeburgh, here's a look at the team shirts.

Top row, L-R: An Post Chain Reaction - Bardiani CSF - Bike Channel Canyon - BMC Racing Team -Cannondale Drapac Pro Cycling - CCC Sprandi Polkowice - Cylance Pro-Cycling

Row 2: Great Britain - JLT Condor - Lotto Soudal - Madison Genesis - Movistar Team - ONE Pro Cycling - Orica Scott

Row 3: Quick-Step Floors - Team Dimension Data - Team Katusha Alpecin - Team Lotto NL Jumbo - Team Sky - Wanty Groupe Gobert

Image source, Tour of Britain

Umbrellas go up as the rain comes down in Newmarket for the start of Stage 6:

Here's a look at the winners of the first five stages of the Tour:

• Stage 1 - Caleb Ewan/Australia - Orica Scott
• Stage 2 - Elia Viviani/Norway - Team Sky
• Stage 3 - Caleb Ewan
• Stage 4 - Fernando Gaviria/Colombia - Quick-Step Floors
• Stage 5 - Lars Boom/The Netherlands - Lotto NL Jumbo

Overall standings:

• Lars Boom - Lotto NL Jumbo - 19mins 2secs
• Victor Campanaerts/Belgium - Lotto NL Jumbo - + 8secs
• Vasil Kiryienka/Belgium - Team Sky - + 9secs
• Stefan Kung/Switzerland - BMC Racing Team - + 10secs
• Jos van Emden/Holland - Lotto NL Jumbo - +13secs

Image source, PA

The Tour of Britain, external is due to leave Newmarket High Street at 10:45 in a procession, with the stage itself starting at 11:00 at Cotton End Road, Exning.

After that, the approximate times are:

11:11 – Freckenham

11:19 – Mildenhall

11:28 – Icklingham

11:37 – Flempton

11:43 – Fornham All Saints

11:52 – Westgate Street, Bury St Edmunds (could be five minutes either way by this point)

11:58 – Great Barton

Image source, Tour of Britain/Google

12:05 – Ixworth (there’s a sprint here)

12:15 – Walsham Le Willows

12:32 - Wickham Skeith (could be 10 minutes either way by this point)

12:42 – Eye

12:59 – Stradbroke (there’s a sprint here)

13:16 – Dennington

13:21 – Framlingham (pictured)

13:31 – Hacheston

13:37 – Wickham Market (could be fifteen minutes either way by this point)

13:47 – Debach

13:57 – Grundisburgh

Image source, Bill Bulstrode

1404 – Tuddenham St Martin

14:09 – Colchester Road, Ipswich (could be 20 minutes either way by this point)

14:17 – Kesgrave (there’s a sprint here - near the High School)

14:29 – Thoroughfare, Woodbridge

14:33 – Bromeswell

14:39 – Rendlesham

14:52 – Snape – ‘King of the Montain’ (!)

15:00 – Saxmundham (could be 25 minutes either way by this point)

15:07 – Leiston

15:11 – Aldringham

15:14 – Aldeburgh sign

15:19 – FINISH on Aldeburgh High Street (could be between 14:53 and 15:45)

The 2017 Tour of Britain, external began in Edinburgh (pictured) on 3 September, and finishes in Cardiff on Sunday, 10 September.

• Stage 1: Edinburgh - Kelso
• Stage 2: Kielder Water & Forest Park - Blyth
• Stage 3: Normanby Hall Country Park - Scunthorpe
• Stage 4: Mansfield - Newark-on-Trent
• Stage 5: Clacton - time trial
• Stage 6: Newmarket - Aldeburgh
• Stage 7: Hemel Hempstead - Cheltenham
• Stage 8: Worcester - Cardiff

The total distance covered by the riders will be 1,312km (815 miles) by the time the race ends.

Today's stage 6 is 183km (114 miles).

Image source, SWPix

Community riders get ready to lead the race off at 10:45...

Current King of the Mountain, Jacob Scott, of Team An Post Chain Reaction, said they have "a plan" to try and win the KoM today - although being near the end they'll have to see how the race has spread out by then.

The Team Sky bus is proving popular:

As is Mark Cavendish's Dimension Data team bus:

Equine life continues in the town which calls itself "The Home of Horseracing", despite the two-wheeled focus of attention:

Stage 6 is due to start on Newmarket High Street at 10:45.

The county may not have a reputation for being particularly hilly, and we certainly don't have any mountains, so we suspect the "King of the Mountain" stage of today's race, taking place on this hill in Snape, won't be too much of a challenge for the Tour of Britain, external cyclists.

Locals have told us it is "fairly steep" and it does "challenge people a bit, even walking up it - there's a seat halfway up".

Teresa Cook, from the Crown Pub, said last time the Tour came through the village the "mountain" didn't seem to trouble the riders too much.

Image source, Google

Kate Arkell
BBC Radio Suffolk

I'm in Newmarket, where Stage Six of the Tour of Britain, external gets under way "proper" at 11:00, after a slow procession from the town centre.

The first team cars and buses have arrived, along with cyclists from clubs across the country:

One of the first villages the Tour of Britain riders will reach after they leave Newmarket (once they've gone through Exning and Fordham) is Freckenham.

Resident Jane Leith says they "couldn't believe something the size of Freckenham is going to have such a huge event coming through".

She's taken the day off to watch the race, saying it might be the "biggest thing" that's ever happened to the village: "Something like this doesn't happen every day, and it certainly won't happen [every day] in a little small village like Freckenham.

"The village hall is getting the bunting out and we're opening up the car park for people from outside the village if they want to watch."

Image source, Keith Evans/Geograph

A team of motorcyclists picked from across the country will be policing the Tour of Britain, external as it crosses Suffolk today.

Sgt Julian Ditcham, from Suffolk's Roads Policing Unit, said: "There's no individual force that could put enough police motorcyclists out to perform the role that we do.

"There's a 'junction box' at the front, you have the peleton bikes which will be there to look after the pedal cyclists themselves, and then you have rear safety bikes."

He said the crowds love seeing the police bikes, and "we love seeing them as well".

The police presence is paid for by the Tour of Britain so it's not taking police officers away from their "normal role" for the day.

"There are still police officers left back in house to deal with the normal every day stuff", added Sgt Ditcham.

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

There may be some challenging conditions for competitors in the Tour of Britain, as they cycle across the county during the day.

Sunshine will be dominant this morning, with only a few showers, though it will be quite breezy.

However by the afternoon, the showers will become more frequent, more widespread, and sometimes heavy or thundery.

Top temperature: 18C (64F).

You can get a more detailed forecast, wherever you're going to be, from BBC Weather.

Good morning and thanks for joining us on this very special day for the county.

At about 11:00 this morning, Stage Six of the Tour of Britain, external will get under way in Newmarket, with more than hundred cyclists heading cross country on their journey to Aldeburgh.

We'll keep you up-to-date on what's happening throughout the day, as our reporters track the race, but we'd love to see your photographs too - you can contact us via the "Get involved" link at the top of this page.

We'll check out the weather prospects next for cyclists and spectators alike, and I'm pretty sure it's not going to be quite as good as when this photograph was taken of the bunting in Framlingham.

Elizabeth Rizzini will bring us the details next.

Image source, Bill Bulstrode