at least we have got a fuller picture this morning. let's allow investigators to do their work, and then bring the right actions as a result of those investigations. now on bbc news, pedal for paris. 500 miles, eight days, one destination. bbc sport is cycling from manchester to paris, looking at climate change and sustainability, as well as meeting some of the athletes heading to the games this summer. leading the peloton — chris boardman, former olympic champion cyclist and now sporting ambassador. climate change is not a political issue. it's a species—threatening issue. and so sport has to get involved too, and it is. here comes the rain.

today is an absolute scorcher. hottest day of the year. drink, drink, and drink. en route, we'll speak to athletes competing in the french capital. some of the really bigi decisions are the ones about where you will hold. the olympics in the future. we'll hear how climate change is affecting sport for everyone, from the grassroots... nearly every game was called off. it was really frustrating. ..to the elite. i think it's important that we talk about leaving a world that our children can grow up in, because being outside in nature is something we shouldn't ever take for granted. and we'll be joined by some famous faces to help us along the way. i don't know how he does it. i find it hard to even . run100m, let alone... he laughs. go. if you just take some positive action in your own life, life is much healthier. the national cycling centre

in manchester, home of great britain's cycling team and the start location of pedal for paris. chris and his team are getting ready for the journey. i'm actually pretty fit at the moment. when you're covering that kind of distance, 550 miles, there's things that are going to happen, we're going to have to manage. so it's a dynamic adventure, is the way i'd like to think of it. the paris games are hoping to be the greenest in history. from cardboard beds in the athletes�* village to plant—based menus, organisers want to halve the carbon footprint of the world's biggest sporting event. back in 2012, london constructed six new stadiums, and rio built ten four years later. but paris has focused on existing and temporary infrastructure, with only two new venues

in the city. but there will be challenges to that environmental legacy. extreme heat, air, and water pollution are still huge concerns. you realise that climate change is already here. you can't go out and ride bicycles when it's a0 degrees heat, which is happening more and more frequently, so we haven't even realised it. en route, we're going to be looking at projects that are already happening to protect our environment, which is the purpose of this, to spotlight environment and particularly its impact on sport. it's finally time to go. all: five, four, three, two, one! go! local cyclists have joined chris to see him off, and all along the route to paris, guest riders will come and go, but we'll be there the whole way.

ok, this is it. we have started. it's a bit daunting for me. i'm not a regular cyclist, but i like a challenge. and it means we can film every mile, all the way to the french capital. we're a few miles in now, chris. how are you feeling? six. six miles? six miles... 10%. the flat 10%, to be fair. flat 10%. there's a few hills to come. it's quite a relief to get us going, really, isn't it? yeah. the first day of the ride takes us from manchester in the north of england to ashbourne in the midlands, over the hills of the peak district, which have a reputation for unpredictable weather. and it's not long before we get caught in it. we're about three hours into the cycle now, and the rain is really coming down now. uh...

not entirely sure my waterproof is waterproof any more. it is very wet. while conditions like this are expected up here, extreme rainfall events are increasing, and they're affecting sport. earlier this year, chris visited a local cricket club in south manchester who are trying to cope with the effects of climate change. they play cricket here every week and they've been subject, they had once—in—100—year flooding back in 2016, and then 2017, it wasn't once in 100 years, it was again. and so on and so on. it became the norm. i've never known anything like this. we've just not been able to get on the ground, uh, because it's been so wet. it's been unrelenting. when it gets rained off, it's really annoying. - last year it was just, nearly every game was called off. it was really frustrating.

there was six games at least in a row, back to back, rained off. and there are examples of professional clubs suffering as well. this is new road, home of worcestershire county cricket club, which they've occupied since 1896 and are now considering leaving because of flooding. football is also heavily affected. the fa have found that there's 120,000 games cancelled every year because of flooded pitches. sports clubs are now receiving investment packages to help them battle climate change and become more sustainable. and this club is leading the way, with solar panels on the pavilion roof and a rewilding programme on the boundary. we have to think very hard about how we keep this cricket club

going as a place to play sport for the next 20 or 30 years, and one of the things we do is we plant all these trees and have this biodiversity, because these trees actually soak up the water in the summer, which means we've got more chance of being able to play the game. there are questions over whether money should instead be spent on all—weather facilities. either way, there is now no doubt that climate change is having a huge impact on physical activity in the uk. well done, boys. 0h, hello! aww. so we're coming to the end of day one. we're about to reach our first overnight stop. it's been a challenging day. we've covered over 1,000m of elevation. hours on end of torrential rain.

i'm absolutely soaked. i'm also covered in mud. at one point i couldn't feel my fingers or my toes. but it's also been great. we've got 60 miles in the bag. just a50 more to go. 0h, yourcamera! i've got it. we are going to loughborough. slightly sore, slightly tender, but we've got a better day. nice weather today. at the other extreme, i think. it's going to get pretty warm. see you in a bit. spirits are high. a little enforced break, waiting for a train. but chris is taking matters into his own hands. does that mean i have to join them? looks like it.

ok, here we go. we've ended up on the wrong side of the wall. are we insured for this? with yesterday's rain behind us, we arrive to a sunny loughborough university, which is a hub for athletes from around the world. after a warm welcome, it's time to get some rest before the biggest day yet. it's day three. we're just about to set off from loughborough. got some new guests joining us today, which will keep spirits high, but the legs are definitely starting to feel it. day three — the longest stretch in the uk. we're travelling 71 miles from loughborough to milton keynes, and after a quick blast to get our legs going, the fun begins. should have gotten him in one of these skin—tight tops. 0h, mate, i've got my own! packed my own. mike tindall, former england rugby

star and now british royalty. he's married to the king's niece, zara phillips, and isjoining us on the ride. and he's not alone. former team—mate james haskell will be in the driving seat of a tandem. not everyone is confident they'll make it. i'll be surprised if they're not in the first hedge we come to, to be honest. their training has been extensive. they've done a good 50m together, i think. so they�* re totally prepared for this journey. having been someone who rides a bike way more thanjames does, _ i'm a little bit nervous that he's in control of brakes. _ but when he drives a car, we call him slowjames. i on the brakes james. um, so it will be - steady away, i think. yeah. they're less than two minutes behind us, and we've been hammering it. so my ego is severely dented now, because i'm not having an easy day,

and this ton of meat precariously balanced on two wheels has been keeping up with us. 20 miles covered today. how are the legs feeling? awful. i'm pretty certain half the time... ..half the time he wasn't pedalling, because when he did pedal, we honestly went to orbit. i've never experienced anything like it. we honestly almost set the land speed record at one point. we were flying. but it was good. it was a positive trip, wasn't it? we've bonded. we've become closer. yeah, we've got nervous nelly on the front steering. - every corner, he's like, "ahh!" there is a message behind pedalfor paris. we're using it to talk about climate change, sustainability. as former athletes yourself, why is it important for sport to try and do more? well, look, ithink, to be honest with you, sportspeople and being healthy and exercising, going out and enjoying nature, is so important in life for so many reasons, and i think that at the moment we're quite clearly destroying the planet. we're quite clearly doing things that, you know, we shouldn't do, deforestation, whatever it might be. and for me, you know, we want to encourage people going out, and climate change is affecting the weather. it's affecting people's ability to play sport., you know, ability to go out

and cycle, for example, hence what we're doing today. so i think raising that awareness, doing a little step, you know, each individually, will make a profound difference. it's day four and it's a scorcher. hottest day of the year. drink, drink, and drink. fortunately, it's the shortest day of the ride. we're heading 52 miles from milton keynes to bisham abbey, near reading. but the temperatures are due to hit 30 celsius. keeping on top of drinking is absolutely everything on a day like this. chris is due to visit more grassroots sports today to spread his sustainability message, and he's on a tight schedule, which means the peloton and our team needs to keep up the pace. ok, so we've got a bit of a confession to make about the bikes that dave the cameraman and i are using. we are using electric bikes for this cycle.

um, there's a couple of reasons why we've decided to do this. mainly because we've got so much kit to carry with us so that we can be live from this cycle and bring you as much coverage as possible. but also we're trying to keep up with the former tour de france and olympic cyclists all the way to paris, and that is no mean feat. and often dave here has to try and get ahead of him to get all the shots that we need. when you're cycling at this speed, the wind rushes by and you don't feel the heat. it's a real danger to life. we know that, when we get to paris, it's likely that the olympic athletes are going to face even higher temperatures than we've experienced, and we're just breaking records to the point that breaking records is stopping becoming news. the french national weather service says this summer is likely to be warmer than average, and over the last few years it's got as hot as 42 degrees celsius in paris. athletes have had to learn to cope with this changing climate. my name is eliza mccartney.

i'm a pole vaulter from aotearoa, new zealand. i did a degree in environmental science and that year has really just like been a platform for me to get a bit more involved in sustainability initiatives, particularly when it comes to sponsors and sport. it has become a really important part of what i do and who i am. what's it like as an athlete competing in those high temperatures? well, in pole vault, the heat and its physiological effect on us is really important. when it's hot, if you're not prepared, you're going to struggle in the heat. you know, you might be fatigued, you might have more lethargy. concentration is really important. you don't want to be fading and not making sensible decisions when you're doing something like pole—vaulting. and if it's a really humid, hot environment, i can slip on the pole and that's not safe either. do you think the world of sport is doing enough to tackle climate change? i mean, ultimately, i don't think any industry

is doing enough right now. but there are some good things that sport, particularly in recent years, has been doing. i think it's just become a bit more apparent that sport and sustainability and climate change are related. but, of course, there's a lot of things that go on in sport that mean that there's a lot of emissions, particularly around major events, of course. yourjob as an athlete requires you to travel all over the world. are you comfortable with that? i feel like, the problem with sport, i have to fly to places and i don't have much control over that if i want to be an athlete right now. so you do feel like you're kind of forced to make these decisions if you want to carry on in your career that you're doing. i think some of the really big decisions are the ones about where you will hold the olympics in the future. if it's the right place to be holding an event at that scale that has sport involved, where people are pushing themselves to their physiological limits, you know, is it a safe place for them to be doing it? we're more than halfway through this journey. today, our destination is central london, following the river thames. along the way, we're calling

in to see the british rowing team, and we're also here to pick up another guest rider, dame katherine grainger, former rower, who has five 0lympic medals, including two golds. katherine, you are joining us today. you're coming all the way to paris. why did you want to get involved? so i was always going to be in paris during the games. i'm wondering myself! and then obviously i know chris very well. um, there's very rare opportunities you get to actually cycle to an olympic games. it's such an incredible opportunity. and like chris said, there's so many amazing projects that we're kind of aware of, but we probably can't highlight and showcase enough. so we're meeting some fantastic athletes who are already speaking out on issues that are so important to them, but also some wonderful venues that really bring to life, like, just how amazing these places are and how we need to protect them and promote them and make sure that our waterways and our cycleways are as good as they can be for everyone.

as an athlete, katherine used to train here. so, before we set off, she wants to talk to the current crop of rowers who will be heading to paris. imogen, last time we caught up was actually at the oxford—cambridge boat race in london. we always talk about conditions when it comes to any outdoor sport. normally it's the weather. this time we talked a lot about the water quality. yeah, and it meant that the coxes weren't thrown in, which is absolutely the traditional celebration of the boat race, something that i've got to experience every time. and, you know, river quality was suddenly a talking point for the first time in a long time. you know, it sort of felt like that's when it came to everyone's really public awareness, public knowledge, but something you've been aware of for a while now? yeah, absolutely. um, i'm an ambassador for the rivers trust, and working with them has really opened my eyes to the significant deterioration in water quality over the last decade or so. so, when i was training here a few years ago now, i don't think it was something we even talked about or were aware of about how bad the water might be. has it changed that much in a short space of time, do you think? you ask any rower, any other river user, like swimmers or anglers,

we all know someone who's gotten a tummy bug, who's been sick, who's got an infected blister, and we're pretty sure it's from the water itself. not a single river in the uk is classed as being in good overall health. and really we're asking the new government and the charities to step up and regulate the water companies better. if we stop putting sewage in the rivers, things are going to change pretty quickly, and we see it in sport as well. you know, once you have momentum, things really pick up steam really fast. and i really hope that speaking about this, whether this is about the thames, whether it's about rivers in the uk or whether it's about the seine in paris as well, talking about it is the first step to action. you're obviously a fantastic athlete. um, and yet you're also using your ability, the platform you have to speak out on issues that are really important to you. some say, you know, the games in front of you. isn't that what you

need to focus on? why is it that you think you also want to use this moment to speak out about the water quality? yeah, i think, being an athlete and being a high—performance athlete, it's such a selfishjob. a lot of the time, you know, we miss so much because we have to recover and have to be at the top of our own personal game. and i think it's a responsibility as an athlete to speak up and use the voice that we have. and that's why i want to use my voice to highlight river quality and highlight sustainability worldwide. the next stop is the city of london. and suddenly we're sharing the road. whoa! this is home to nearly ten million people and 2.5 million cars. we'll be spending the night near st pancras station, terminus of the eurostar. many british athletes are travelling to and from paris by train, rather than flying, to make theirjourney more sustainable. like all huge cities around the world, london has its problems with air pollution.

it's causing a lot of ill health and we need to act now. another guest on our ride is dr heather lambert. she's a campaigner focusing on improving the quality of the air we breathe. how serious is the problem of air pollution? it is responsible for so much ill—health. about a third of asthma in children is caused by air pollution. there's good evidence that children living in high—pollution areas have more respiratory illness. it's actually killing children. we need to get rid of a lot of the vehicles that are causing the air pollution and replace them with other forms of transport. we got across london so much quicker today on our bikes than the vehicles that were following us, electric vehicles, but following us with, with, with baggage and equipment. and so i think people can change their own ways of getting about.

and one of the messages of this trip is somehow we've got to think about the way we design our cities and how we get across them and how we design public transport and things like that. the next day, we're making the most of london's extensive cycle lane network as we head out of the city. i love these quiet streets. it actually makes moving around a city like this so much quicker on a bike and more pleasant. it's 69 miles to the south coast, and britain's greatest—ever paralympian, dame sarah storey, is taking a break from her training tojoin us. it's great to be part of a group. i don't often ride in a group any more and... i'm racing in groups, obviously, but most of my training is done solo. i'm very single—minded when it comes to training rides, so it's nice to do a ride like this in a group _ obviously we started out in central london and utilised all the infrastructure that's been built over the last ten to 15 years.

sarah's come along because, as it turns out, the idea for the whole trip was hers. i really liked the idea of riding to paris because it's so close compared to all of the other games, and so i've held on to that. and then, last year, i was... towards the end of last year, i was chatting to chris boardman about the fact that no—one had arranged it for me yet. somebody needed to sort this ride to paris out. um, so, yeah, now we're here and you guys are riding all the way to paris. i'm joining you for this leg and then going back to my training and then going to work out how i ride to paris for the paralympics. well, we made it. newhaven ferry port. finally, france beckons. we have made it to france! it's hard to believe, isn't it? bonjour! so we've got 73 miles to do today. it's the longest day of cycling of the whole journey so far. we're on the avenue verte,

and it isjust miles of uninterrupted cycle lanes. glorious! this e—bike has a speed limit of 15.5mph. and after that, you're on your own. and we're currently going uphill at about 18mph, so there's a lot of work to do. we're really going fast now. after a quick overnight stop, paris is finally within touching distance and the excitement is growing. whether it's because we can sense the finish line, i can't decide, orjust the fact we're in an amazing country, which is the home of the olympics in a few days' time. and i think there's just so much to get excited about now. there's just one last visit to make in saint—germain—en—laye, on the outskirts of paris, which is where some british athletes and their coaches are based this summer. it's a chance to catch

up with old friends. i don't know how he does it! i find it hard to even run 100m now, let alone ride a bike... it's the class of �*92. ah! good grief. well, it's saddle sore, though, huh? little bit. let me tell you, you've still got it up those hills, so he hasn't lost it. ah! steadier now, a bit slower, i would say. well, you know, they say it's not for the swift or the strong, but the one who endures to the end. the one that's still there, the one that's still there. you've still got to be there. with impressive facilities, these camps are crucial for athletes who spend years preparing for the games. it's nice so they can see other people training and everything else and, you know, kind of work out what they have to do, you know, it's good. and, you know, now the environment starts and everything, but, you know, they're not running till another week or so. so it's quite early. you've got time to join us on the cycle to paris. do you want to come with us? got a spare bike there. i'm going to go on the tram now, so... "oh, look at the time." i'm going to run.

merci. it's the final stretch into the city. the olympic games are in town and chris has donned his yellowjersey. before we know it, after 500 miles and a0 hours in the saddle, we hit the cobbles under the arc de triomphe. woo! we've made it! it feels amazing to be here. feels very special. it feels very, um... it's ridiculous, but it's, like, what an amazing location to finish. what an amazing ride with incredible people. cycling behind chris boardman, something i thought i would never say. cycling in a peloton with dame sarah storey. dame katherine grainger. meeting athletes from all over the world. it's been absolutely brilliant. we've trundled our way down the country, over the channel, uh, from the coast in france.

and that's taken just a week. and it hasn't been physically too demanding. we've stopped and seen lots of stuff. it's incredible what you can do with a bicycle. now it's time to enjoy paris and the olympic games. hello. sunny skies with temperatures well into the 20s across much of the uk and whether you like it or not, the first half of the week is going to be really quite hot, particularly across southern and central areas of the uk. now, let me show you the satellite picture with the jet stream superimposed. here it is, this big ridge, allowing the hot air

to come in from the south. and the dip in the jet stream with the weather fronts there, that's the bad weather that recently affected paris and the opening ceremony. now, here in the uk, admittedly it's not gin clear everywhere. the blue skies are further south. in scotland and northern ireland here, it's a little more hazy with fair weather clouds, and cooler, around 21 in belfast and glasgow. but the rest of the country, typically inland, in the mid 20s. so after a warm and sunny day, it will be a warm and clear night, butjust to the north—west, this weak weather front is trying to push in. it doesn't make much progress, but maybe some cloudier skies and damp weather here in the far north—west. the rest of the country, it's a dry and sunny morning. and we do it all over again on monday, with high pressure in charge and just weak weather fronts trying to move into north—western parts of the uk. so right from the word go, it's blue skies once again across many parts of england and wales. a little bit more cloud here in the north—west of the uk,

and just the risk of a shower here and there. so cooler, around 20 or so, but the bulk of england and wales again well into the 20s, and the high 20s expected across the south—east and east anglia. and that heat will continue to build as we head through the course of tuesday. we see that hot air spreading in from france, really quite oppressive for the olympics, in the south of france pushing a0 celsius, paris the mid 30s. here in the uk in the extreme case, we might even get around 31 or 32 in some southern and south—eastern parts of the country. now i'm going to speed up the weather forecast. here's tuesday into wednesday, then wednesday night with the heat, we are going to see some showers and thunderstorms developing, i think more especially by the time we get to thursday. but trying to pinpoint where they're going to be at this stage is going to be very hard. but here is the summary, then, for the week ahead, this increasing cloud here an indication of those storms starting to build by that stage. bye— bye.

live from london, this is bbc news. funerals are taking place for the young victims of a rocket attack in the israeli—occupied golan heights. israel has blamed the lebanese militant group hezbollah, which denies involvement. new video has emerged of the events leading up to a police officer kicking a man in the head — as he lay on the floor at manchester airport last week. venezuelans are voting in what's being seen as a pivotal presidential election — with president nicolas maduro trailing his rival in opinion polls. i'm maryam moshiri, live from paris. it's day two of the olympics, with 13 gold medals

up for grabs today. and one of the most—decorated gymnasts in history, simone biles, has returned to competition to try to add to her four gold medals. welcome to this hour. the israeli air force says it's carried out strikes against the hezbollah group in lebanon, after a rocket hit a football pitch in the israeli—occupied golan heights, killing 12 young people. the rocket struck a druze arab town close to the border with lebanon. the israeli defence minister blamed hezbollah but the group has denied any involvement. today funerals have been taking place in the town of majal shams. barbara plett—usher has sent this report. impossible to count the losses when they are measured in the lives of your children.

villagers gathered in their thousands to mourn