Coverage as the Women's Tour 2019 begins in Suffolk
The race started in Beccles at 10:30 BST
Jolien D'hoore of Belgium crosses the finish line first at Stowmarket
The 157.6km course visited Halesworth, Framlingham and Bury St Edmunds
It is the fourth time Britain's biggest women's pro-cycling race has started in the county
The Women's Tour's Twitter feed, external reports that the riders are still bunched up in one group as they head south on the A140.
Having passed through Eye, the cyclists travel a short distance down the main road between Norwich and Ipswich before turning off at Thornham Magna and heading west towards Walsham-le-Willows.
Suffolk has been a favourite county for hosting stages of some of Britain's major cycling races in recent years.
In the inaugral Women's Tour in 2014, the third stage went from Felixstowe to Clacton.
In 2015, stage one ended in Aldeburgh where Lizzie Armitstead crashed at the finish line, while stage two went from Braintree in Essex to Clacton, via Sudbury and Hadleigh.
Image source, Grier and PartnersCyclists pass through John Constable's home village of East Bergholt in 2015
The 2016 event had a stage from Southwold to Norwich, while last year featured a stage beteen Framlingham and Southwold.
For the men's Tour of Britain, the opening stage in 2012 went from Ipswich to Norwich.
In 2015, it was back in Norfolk and Suffolk, including a sprint section on the runway at the Army's Wattisham airfield.
Image source, Getty ImagesIn 2017, the men had a sprint time trial at Clacton in Essex, followed by a stage six jaunt between Newmarket and Aldeburgh in Suffolk.
BBC reporter Ben Parker is less hardy than the riders and has been sat in his car in Stradbroke to avoid the rain.
"Lots of big puddles forming on the route - it's not going to make life easy for the riders," he said.
Jon Wright
BBC Radio Suffolk
The peloton has whizzed through Ed Sheeran's home town Framlingham on its way from Beccles to Stowmarket.
Spectators who had stood in the rain said it was "well worth waiting for".
Stuart Howells
BBC Radio Suffolk
Hundreds of people watched the Women's Tour "fly" through Halesworth.
Jaki, who stood on London Road to see the action, said there was a lot of "excitement".
She said: "People were very supportive, cheering and clapping."
Jaki said she had "a lot of respect" for the 96 riders who were out racing in the rain and showing "true grit".
"I'm feeling invigorated and inspired by these women," she said.
The race passed through the village of Holton just before Halesworth.
Image source, PAThe Tour peloton has passed through Shadingfield, where the riders remained bunched together.
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’.
There are five titles up for grabs, external.
The star prize at the Women’s Tour is the Green jersey, awarded to the leader of the General Classification.
In 2018, this went to the USA's Coryn Rivera.
Other honours include the pink Points jersey, with points going to the top 15 – this went to Marianne Vos of The Netherlands in 2018.
Image source, OVO Energy Women's TourThe red Sprints jersey celebrates the leader of the intermediate sprints, which was also awarded to Rivera in the last edition.
The black Queen of the Mountains jersey is awarded to the rider who takes the most points on designated climbs – and Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy won this in 2018.
And there's a blue jersey for the Best British rider. 2018’s victor was Dani Rowe, whose team was also awarded the best team status.
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’.
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’.
Just under 160km to go until the finish in Stowmarket.
Image source, Getty ImagesMarianne Vos wins the Tour de Yorkshire 2019 stage in Scarborough
"When you're breastfeeding, you're living in these three-hour windows," said Lizzie Deignan (nee Armitstead) as she tries to balance motherhood and her cycling career.
She gave birth to Orla in September and has been talking to the BBC about expressing milk and her training schedule among other things.
Image source, Getty ImagesLizzie Deignan (left) with Kasia Niewiadoma of Poland during Sunday's press conference in Ipswich
She's racing with her Trek-Segafredo team in today's opening stage.
Deignan won the first stage when it was in Suffolk in 2015, but crashed into photographers at the finish line in Aldeburgh and was out injured for some time.
Today's opening stage of the OVO Energy Women's Tour will start in Beccles and end in Stowmarket.
Ninety-six of the world's best female riders, from 16 different teams, will set off from the north Suffolk town at 10:30.
The pace will hot up as they race for the intermediate sprint at RAF Honington, which they are expected to reach at 13:19.
This will quickly be followed by another sprint at Fornham St Martin at about 13:40 and a third in Stowmarket before the finish.
The hill-climbers among the peloton will be hoping to take the Queen of the Mountain points at Little Welnetham, which they are expected to reach at 14:02, and Purple Hill, Buxhall, at 14:44.
After 157.6km (98 miles) of racing, the riders are expected to reach the finish line at Stowmarket at about 14:53.
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’.
It's a rather wet start to the Women's Tour.
Weather forecasters say the rain will be persistent and heavy at times.
But it's not all bad news, as it is expected to become drier from the south through the afternoon.
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’.
Suffolk is to welcome the opening stage of the 2019 Women's Tour.
Image source, Getty ImagesBelgium's Jolien D'Hoore won last year's opening stage of the race which went from Framlingham to Southwold in Suffolk
Britain's biggest women's pro-cycling race will set off from Beccles at 10:30.
The colourful peloton of just under 100 riders will weave its way along the 157.6km (98 mile) route to Stowmarket.
They will go through places including Halesworth, Framlingham, Stradbroke, Eye and Bury St Edmunds, where thousands of spectators are expected to line the streets to cheer them on.
It is the fourth time the OVO Energy Women's Tour, external has started in Suffolk.
Today's stage is the first of six, the Tour will head to Kent tomorrow and will finish in Pembrey, Wales, on Saturday.