Summary

  • Updates from Stage Six of the Tour of Britain on Friday, 8 September 2017

  • Stage Six won by Caleb Ewan from Team Orica-Scott

  • Lars Boom maintains overall lead with two days left

  • James Shaw KoM winner

  • Jacob Hennessy claims first place in Kesgrave sprint

  • Connor Swift wins Stradbroke sprint

  • Hayden McCormick wins Ixworth sprint

  • Three riders abandon race

  1. Stage Six of the Tour of Britain starts under grey skiespublished at 10:57 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

    The crowds aren't deterred though:

    Crowds line up in Exning
  2. And we're off...published at 10:46 British Summer Time 8 September 2017
    Breaking

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

  3. A reminder of the team shirtspublished at 10:44 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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

    Team shirtsImage source, Tour of Britain
  4. Rain begins as cyclists get set to leave Newmarket for official startpublished at 10:44 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

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

    Rainy windscreen
  5. The stage results so farpublished at 10:43 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

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

    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

    Lars BoomImage source, PA
  6. Where exactly does Stage Six of the Tour of Britain go?published at 10:40 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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

    Map showing route of Stage SixImage 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

    Bunting in FramlinghamImage 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)

    Road closure sign and bunting in Aldeburgh
  7. A closer look at the eight stagespublished at 10:33 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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).

    Start of the Tour along High Street and Royal Mile in EdinburghImage source, SWPix
  8. Not long to wait now in Newmarket...published at 10:30 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

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

    Community riders at start of race

    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.

    Jacob Scott
  9. In pictures: The latest from Newmarketpublished at 10:28 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    The Team Sky bus is proving popular:

    Team Sky bus

    As is Mark Cavendish's Dimension Data team bus:

    Dimension Data team bus

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

    Horse being walked down footpath
  10. Police motorcycles all present and correctpublished at 10:11 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  11. Youngsters practise their flag-waving before Tour sets offpublished at 09:35 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

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

  12. Aldeburgh gets set for the arrival, and finish, of the Tourpublished at 09:33 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  13. 'Mountain' awaiting Tour cyclistspublished at 09:31 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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.

    Bottom of hill

    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.

    Church Road in SnapeImage source, Google
  14. First team cars arrive in Newmarketpublished at 09:30 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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:

    Team cars in Newmarket
    Team buses in Newmarket
    Cyclists from clubs across the country
  15. Freckenham opens up car park to welcome Tour spectatorspublished at 09:14 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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."

    Freckenham village signImage source, Keith Evans/Geograph
  16. Policing of Tour is a 'national' effortpublished at 08:30 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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."

    Police bikers

    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.

  17. Tour of Britain weather: Sunshine and blustery showerspublished at 08:10 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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.

    Midday weather map
  18. Welcome to our live coverage of Stage Six of the Tour of Britainpublished at 08:00 British Summer Time 8 September 2017

    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.

    Bunting in FramlinghamImage source, Bill Bulstrode