The eyes of the world will be focusing on Hadleigh when the Tour of Britain coms to the town on Thursday, September 7.

Flag-to-flag live coverage of the fifth stage, including the special Sprint section down Hadleigh High Street, of the Tour of Britain will be shown live on television, plus a nightly highlights show, thanks to ITV4. 

ITV4 will broadcast more than 45 hours of coverage from the 2023 race with the full schedule for live coverage and the highlights programmes have been revealed.

Stage five, which starts and finishes in Felixstowe, starts live from 10.30am, with Hadleigh and neighbouring villages featured between 12noon and 1pm, with the highlight shown on ITV4 between 9pm – 10pm

Meanwhile, Hadleigh High Street shops, businesses and residents are encouraged to dress their windows and High Street frontages with the colours of the Tour of Britain - red white and blue are the colours of the leader's jersey and green is the colour of the sprint jersey winner.

Tour of Britain sprint in town cnetre

Cycling enthusiasts, residents and business owners in the town are already looking to show Hadleigh off to its best as the cameras, on motorbikes, helicopters and hand held, cover the prestigious Tour of Britain.

Working closely with Babergh District Council, Angela Wiltshire has secured bunting and other promotional material for people to fly, flutter or flag up in the town centre, and other parts of the route as some of the world's best cyclists whizz through the region.

She has managed to secure support from many of the shops and businesses in the High Street and has also been promised donations and assistance, for which she is surprised and grateful.

Angela said: 'Cycling has struggled to achieve the same profile as other sports in this country and it is a shame to see British cyclists getting onto the podium at Grand Tours and not being recognised in the mainstream press for those achievements. Cycling is an amazing team sport and British cyclists are doing as well, if not better, than they ever have."

Babergh will gift of several hundred metres of bunting for High Street premises to celebrate the event.

Angela is keen to point out that this bunting will be a gift to Hadleigh which should be retained and used again and again for future cycling and other events." 

'It's very important that it is reused as often as possible and it's safe to say that Babergh may never invest this much in bunting for Hadleigh again," said Angela.

"I'll be approaching High Street shops and businesses to ask them to display the bunting for the cycle race on 7th September, and to hang onto it to use again.

" If people don't have the capacity, or don't want to do that, I will find a home for it somewhere with others who can.'Hadleigh High Street shops, businesses and residents are encouraged to dress their windows and High Street frontages with the colours of the Tour of Britain - red white and blue are the colours of the leader's jersey and green is the colour of the sprint jersey winner."

Angela Wiltshire with other cycle race enthusiasts

Others have also played their party with Andy Laflin and Leanda Hoyland-Linch at Gipping are promoting the Tour at their sites in Hadleigh and Felixstowe

Jolyon Stickels, a partner at Hadleigh estate agents Chapman Stickels, who has kindly offered a generous donation to complement the gift from Babergh.

Steven O'Leary has also agreed to contribute to the cost of decorating the town to ensure that anyone who wants to can show their support.

Businessman and former councillor Andrew Knock who did not hesitate to sponsor the event when he heard that there might be a bit of a shortfall in what Babergh could offer.

Along with Steven O'Leary, owner of the Marquis at Layham and developer of the former Partridges site, are among key townsfolk looking to promote the town as the world looks on.

For international fans outside of the UK comprehensive race coverage will be available on Eurosport; advert-free streams will available on the Eurosport app, GCN+, and discovery +, meaning Hadleigh will be seen the world over.

ITV4 is available on Freeview (channel 25), Freesat (channel 117), Sky (channel 120), Virgin Media (channel 118) and the ITV Hub (online) in the UK.

If you would like some bunting to display along the High Street and make Hadleigh stand out, get in touch with Angela: [email protected] .

Map and times of tour here...