Tour of Britain: Stevie Williams at the top of the tree headed into the final stage across East Suffolk

Stevie Williams continues to stand at the top of the Tour of Britain tree as it heads into its final stage across East Suffolk today.

The Israel – Premier Tech rider is standing firm at the top despite young French talent Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) sealing a hattrick of stage wins in Northampton.

A crash at the end of yesterday’s stage caught out most of Magnier’s teammates, but Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) was able to guide his young colleague towards the front of the race.

This aided Magnier in maintaining his hold on the red points classification jersey, while Callum Thornley (TRINITY Racing) kept hold of his blue ‘king of the mountains’ strip.

There was no change in the general classification, as Williams retained his 16 second advantage over best young rider leader Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) going into the final stage.

After the win, Magnier said: “I enjoyed it a lot, especially with a really big team performance again.

“It was really hard to catch the break in the final. Remco (Evenepoel) did everything, he did his best.

“He is a super fast rider and he brought back the really strong breakaway, and then Julian (Alaphilippe) brought me to the front and I saved a lot of energy there.

“I did my best sprint and the victory was super nice – tomorrow we’ll try again to get the victory.”

Olympic road race champion Remco Evenepoel is in 32nd place going into today, while GB’s Tom Pidcock, Olympic cross country champion, is in 43rd.

East Suffolk hosts the final stage of the Tour of Britain today with a 158.4-kilometre stage from Lowestoft to Felixstowe.

For all the associated road closures and parking suspensions due to the event, click here.

There will be a series of events and celebrations in both Felixstowe and Lowestoft for the Tour or Britain, which you can read more about here.

Live coverage on ITV4 begins at 10.45am.