good evening. this is bbc news. let us good evening. this is bbc news. let us take you through the headlines. delays on the travel network as the extreme heat causes disruption on the eurotunnel and lightning strikes bring cancellations to services on the east coast mainline. police warn against jumping into rivers and lakes to cool off. one boy is missing, two other people have died. the heatwave could be coming to an end. the met office has issued a warning for thunderstorms in the east of in and the east midlands. letters exchanged between prince charles and the bishop later convicted of being a paedophile have been read out at the independent enquiry into child sexual abuse. the prince of wales says he was unaware of the crimes of peter ball. a six year old boy has died after being shot with a pellet gun at a house in east yorkshire. stanley metcalf had been visiting relatives near hull. some private probation contracts are scrapped that the cost of £170

million afterfailing to scrapped that the cost of £170 million after failing to deliver expected improvements. in a moment, it will be time for sportsday. but first, a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. no seats, no water and inching along one of the uk's busiest mainlines. in a moment, it will be time for sportsday. but first, a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news. no seats, no water and inching along one of the uk's busiest mainlines. in a moment, it will be time for sportsday. no seats, no water and inching along one of the uk's busiest mainlines. we'll be speaking to one train traveller caught up in disruption on the railway line that connects edinburgh, leeds, newcastle and london. as skygazers prepare to try and catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse we'll be speaking to one astronomer who'se already ready and waiting on the fringes of dartmoor and coming up later this evening we'll take a first look at tomorrow's front pages with comment and features editor of city am, rachel cunliffe, and the evening standard's defence editor, robert fox. that's all ahead on bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday —

i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes, here's what's coming up on the show. on his way to victory... geraint thomas extends his lead in the tour de france with just one competitive stage left... sebastien vettel‘s fastest in budapest as he tries to chase down lewis hamilton's lead in the drivers‘ championship... and as glasgow gets ready for the multi—sport europeans — we hearfrom scotland's king of the velodrome... it would inspire me i am sure and it will inspire a whole generation of potential athletes to become champions and makes poor part of their lives. —— make sport. also coming—up — two former aj conquests go head to head in london... we look forward to tomorrow's fight between dillian whyte and joseph parker... hello and welcome to sportsday.

so lots going on today, but we're starting with the tour de france and geraint thomas is now within touching distance of his first grand tour title. the welshman shrugged—off any attempted coups on today's penultimate competitive stage... and increased his overall lead to 2 minutes and 5 seconds. drew savage has the details of the gruelling mountainous 19th stage. congratulations for geraint thomas. the man in the yellowjersey needed to defend his lead but ended up extending it. the retreat... there were three mountains left... and he'd have help tackling them. from no less than the defending champion. the col du tourmalet, almost twice as high as snowdon, scaled successfully. the final climb... the col d'aubisque... where, as thomas had predicted, the attacks came. primoz roglic, the man in fourth place made his move.... froome, third this morning, left behind.

thomas was left exposed with his team—mate seemingly struggling... but he was equal to everything his rivals could manage. froome eventually fought his way back in... but it still wasn't over... roglic attacked again... thomas‘s lead looked safe enough but that threatened froome‘s place on the podium. the former ski—jumper flew away to win the stage by 19 seconds... roglic now third overall, ahead of froome. but team sky achieved their main objective. thomas looked strongest and finished fastest — taking six bonus seconds that should help him keep the yellowjersey. drew savage, bbc news. so this is how the general classification looks with just tomorrow's time trial to go... geraint thomas — out in front with a commanding lead... now over 2 minutes after his second place today. . .. tom doumoulin remains his closest rival — and today's stage win was enough to propel primoz roglich into third, pushing the defending champion and 4 time winner — chris froome off the podium. so all that now stands between geraint thomas and his first grand tour title is tomorrow's

final time trial... the last meaningful stage before sunday's procession in paris... the time trail is an individual race against the clock, set over 31km — up and down dale with a steep final climb before the finish. now the best time trialler in the race is thomas‘s nearest rival — the dutchman tom doumoulin. he's the world champion and won last year's giro d'italia when that finished with a similar time trial. so he could make up a lot of time... then there's chris froome — who's won four individual time trials in grand tours — including during two of his tour de france victories and he also has a couple of olympic bronze medals in the discipline... and then there's geraint thomas — who won the british championships‘ time trial by more than half a minute back injune — so he's got form and obviously already has a huge advantage as the overall leader — so will doumoulin and froome be able to reel him in? well let's speak to someone who knows all about time trialling — 3 time british national champion — dr michael hutchinson. michael, first of all can

you explain how the time trial works and then well get on to whether thomas can or can't be caught! it is really simple. the riders set off and compete against the clock. there is no team in perth. it is a solo effort and they call it the race of truth because it finds the strongest rider. so geraint thomas has an advantage of 2 minutes, 5 seconds, is that enough? almost certainly. brent thomas is not primarily known as a time trialist but he is very good. here's the british champion who has won a lot of medals in british championships and on an occasion like this, he will be capable of producing a great performance and he is in the form of his life. he has a

healthy advantage, tom doumoulin will probably beat him for the stage tomorrow, but i would be surprised if he pulls back more than 30 or a0 seconds. i think geraint thomas is pretty safe. this is a race for second place then? yes, primoz roglic who is currently third, he is a good time trialist, not as consistent, i do not think he will overta ke consistent, i do not think he will ove rta ke to m consistent, i do not think he will overtake tom doumoulin. i think he will cement that second place but what is more interesting is the race between chris froome and primoz roglic for that last podium place. where do you rank this victory? where do you rank this victory? where do you rank this for geraint thomas, is this one of the best british cycling performances? i know chris froome has body—macro with four times but it seems harderfor geraint thomas, he did not seem to have the support. most of us felt

that geraint thomas had a ride like this in him. he has not always been lucky, he has had a tendency to crash on important occasions and he has had the odd bad day. certainly, they need to let the road decide who will lead team sky into the final week and the way it fell for geraint thomas was almost perfect. i do not think he has had a particularly rough ride but i was watching him today thinking he was really riding like someone who expected to win the tour from the like someone who expected to win the tourfrom the beginning. there was like someone who expected to win the tour from the beginning. there was a great degree of assurance and security about the way he approached the stage. this has been a tough tour, particularly for the sprinters. is this geraint thomas winning this tour or is it that he has not had the competition?” winning this tour or is it that he has not had the competition? i think he has certainly won this tour, he has been the strongest rider. he has looked impregnable since the first

week. he initially took the lead over chris froome on the first stage win chris froome crashed and took nearly a minute there and since that point he has looked like he was going to end that being the leader and if you the leader of team sky at the tour de france there is a good chance you will win the race. it has been a tumultuous few years for a tea m been a tumultuous few years for a team sky. this team dynamic that has been ongoing, that cannot have helped geraint thomas and this should make it even more special.m has not helped, i do not think particularly the case will not have affected the other riders badly u nless affected the other riders badly unless you start looking at the very negative reception may have had in france and i think they will have been expecting that. i do not think it will be that likely to put them off their stride. the team has had a bad couple of years in terms of its profile and public relations. as i say, i think for the riders, it all boils down to what happens on the

road. thank you very much. we will find out tomorrow. it sounds like geraint thomas will do it. now while formula one approaches the mid season break — all eyes are on budapest this weekend for the hungarian grand prix and the question is — will lewis hamilton keep his lead at the top of the drivers‘ championship? he struggled in practise on the twisty and dusty hungaroring today — while his nearest rival sebastien vettel scorched round in the fastest time. so what sort of race might we see come sunday? 0ur f1 reporterjennie gow looks ahead for us... it is round 12 of the formula 1 championship of 2018 and i thought i would grab my colleaguejolyon palmer to discuss what has been a fantastic 2018 so far. this battle between hamilton and sebastien vettel is spicy. it is a modern classic. wheel to wheel, it has been chopping and changing every race, a different leader. so many struggles,

so different leader. so many struggles, so many great drives, it has been thrilling. do you think we will see this for the rest of the season?|j this for the rest of the season?” hope so. i think we all hope so because the battle is great between them. the cars are relieving and i think this time last year it was close but it always felt like mercedes had the edge but ferrari have upped their game. it is halfway through the season, but if we have this until the end, it will be a classic. what has made the difference for ferrari, at the beginning of this hybrid era, they we re beginning of this hybrid era, they were away off mercedes and all of a sudden it seems like they are back in the game. they have been slowly coming back towards the front and the key was last year with the big aero changes. last year it sebastien vettel, ferrari had a better car. the engine has been upgraded and is improving every year. now they have made a big step and they have the

best engines, a very good chassis and they have sebastien vettel against lewis hamilton in the same for mercedes. it has got all the ingredients for a thriller. just described, for a driver, the psychological battle but must go on between the likes of sebastien vettel and lewis hamilton when they are both at the top of their game. it is intense, the life of a formula 1 driver is intense, there are only 20 of them and the pressure is huge. the pressure is bigger on the ones at the front. they are being watched, everything they do. when sebastien vettel threw away the win in germany, you could see the pressure was so much. it boiled over. we have saw the same from lewis hamilton in germany the day before as well. it is huge pressure, a long season, still ten more races to go and with every race, the pressure gets more. it is huge, psychologically this raises big because there is a three—week gap

and the drivers will have to stew over whatever happens. sebastien vettel was the fastest man in practice today and we have been talking and you reckon he will go for pole position and the win this weekend. i think so, they are so close and red bull are close as well and this is a track that is closest toa and this is a track that is closest to a street circuit. i think they will be close. sebastien vettel look good and i think he is going to make a recovery and take the win. let us see who gets the win here. just down the road from the city of budapest and all eyes will be on sebastien vettel and lewis hamilton. also coming up in the programme... never mind cycling the tour de france, we meet the man who ran the route! and after having a baby, laura trott is back on the track at the european championships... when i get on my bike and i am

finding it hard, i think, just how proud albie would be and puts a different spin it. now what do these two boxers have in common? the answer is they‘ve both lost to anthonyjoshua. britain‘s dillian whyte was beaten by the superstar back in 2015 and new zealander, joseph parkerfamously lost to him in cardiff earlier this year. well now the heavyweights are fighting each other in london tomorrow night, they weighed—in this afternoon and joseph has told whyte, prepare for war. alex gulrijani reports. the journey to the top of heavyweight boxing is not always a laugh a heavyweight boxing is not always a laugha minute, heavyweight boxing is not always a laugh a minute, especially for dillian whyte and joseph parker. for joseph parker, he held one version of the heavyweight title until very recently. anthonyjoshua of the heavyweight title until very recently. anthony joshua deprived him of that in front of 80,000 people in cardiff earlier this year.

parker‘s only professional defeat but now he is back with a new attitude. before i used to come into fighting and i used to say, hopefully have a good fight, catch him clean and hopefully get a knockout. there is no hopefully here, i‘m here to do damage. i am here, i‘m here to do damage. i am here to punch with all bad intentions. i‘m going to break him down. it will take a lot of punches. looking to prove a point and come back with a win, something dillian whyte knows all about. he only has one blemish on his professional career and you can guess who inflicted it. three years ago before joshua became a world champion, he defeated dillian whyte inside seven rounds, a defeat that dillian whyte has used as a springboard to launch himself towards his very own world title challenge. it is a dangerous fight. he is going to come and bring it. i

fight. he is going to come and bring it. lam hoping he does. he said he would come and throw punches and we will see. first—round, third round, me and him will trade leather, serious leather at some point. for the victor, what lies in wait? wbc champion, deontay wilder remains a valid apartment. as does, you know who, the unified champion and possible revenge —— remains a valid opponent. let‘s have a quick look at some of the other sports stories around today — and staying with boxing — the long awaited world super series — super—middleweight final between george groves and callum smith will take place in saudi arabia on september 28th. the fight was due to be held injune but it was delayed after groves suffered a shoulder injury in his victory over chris eubankjr back in february. he‘ll defend his wba world title against the unbeaten smith at the king abdullah sports city in jeddah. queens park rangers have been fined almost a2 million pounds and won‘t be able to make any transfers in the january window after they broke football‘s financial fair play rules —

on their way to premier league promotion a years ago. wolves goalkeeper carl ikeme has announced he‘s retiring due to medical advice. the 32 year old is in remission after a year—long battle with blood cancer. the nigeria keeper has been at wolves since he was 1a. the netherlands are leading china by two goals to nil in the women‘s hockey world cup... with a0 minutes left to play. play has not long restarted though after lightening and torrential rain caused play to be suispended. and dutch rider kevinjochems has won the king george the fifth gold cup at hickstead — one of showjumping‘s most presigous events — it‘s his first top level grand prix victory. amanda derbyshire was the best briton in third place. 0nto cricket — and lancashire thunder won their first women‘s super league game for almost two years when they beat yorkshire diamonds today. henry moraen has been following the action at headingley for us... the old roses contest always brings

high emotion, high energy and a good crowd watched the match. lancashire thunder were in trouble, 25—a about 109 runs were put on to help them up to 13a-a. that 109 runs were put on to help them up to 13a—a. that target looked difficult for the yorkshire diamonds and it proved too much, all out for 101, good work from the england spin pair. that did most of the damage in the end, lancashire thunder victorious in front of a good crowd who enjoyed themselves ahead of a double—header match featuring the vikings and the bears later this evening. now next week — the first ever multi—sport european championships get under way in glasgow and berlin. it‘s a kind of european 0lympics staged across the two cities with sports from swimming and rowing to athletics and cycling.... as always the british team will be hoping for plenty of gold medals in the velodrome including laura kenny who‘s back on the team since having a baby after rio.

iis i is still really care about cycling andi i is still really care about cycling and i always will. it has been my life for a long time but all of a sudden, i don‘t think about everything being perfect, iam thinking about going home because i wa nt to thinking about going home because i want to be with albie and if you had asked me before the olympics, do you need to sleep for ten hours, i would be like, yes, but after a year with albie, he is getting better but he still wa kes albie, he is getting better but he still wakes up several times, that would have been my worst nightmare. now, does not matter, it does not have to be completely perfect and the funny thing is, when i get on my bike andi the funny thing is, when i get on my bike and i am finding it hard, i just think how proud albie would be if you can get through this effort. if it's if you can get through this effort. if it‘s on a completely different spin and one i never thought would happen ina spin and one i never thought would happen in a way, because for me it was always 100% focused on cycling

because that was all i ever knew. now, it is different, ifeel different about it. good luck to laura kenny. so what will the first staging of this european championships event mean to the athletes competing? it‘s the first time the glasgow velodrome has been in action since the commonwealth games a years ago when sir chris hoy was the games‘ ambassador... the european championships are hugely important. you want to win the jersey and the gold hugely important. you want to win thejersey and the gold medal. it is also a stepping stone towards the 0lympic also a stepping stone towards the olympic games, the first qualifying event for tokyo 2020 and it is exciting to see how the riders are faring. it is amazing that we have this facility here but to be able to host these huge events is fantastic andi host these huge events is fantastic and i guess it opens up the sport to and i guess it opens up the sport to a whole new audience and people get to see at first hand and when you witness it sitting here, seeing it live, it is a whole different appreciation. who is going to get it? chris hoy gets the gold medal. he becomes the greatest achiever

ever, the greatest british olympian. for the velodrome to have the swimming, the golf, the triathlon, the gymnastics, all these different sports and divide as a young athlete, growing up in glasgow and had the opportunity to go and see all these different sports, it would inspire me and it will inspire a whole generation of young potential athletes, not just to whole generation of young potential athletes, notjust to become champions but export part of their life and to hopefully get something from that. as this is a fantastic city. the

first thing that glasgow was left with was infrastructure, the armadillo, the hydro, now the word‘s third busiest indoor venue. plus the arena and velodrome in the east end. thanks to these, next month they will host the first european games featuring swimming and cycling. we area featuring swimming and cycling. we are a safe pair of hands, we deliver successful events, successful for everyone, all the partners, sewer works for the host, it works for glaswegians. we always focus on delivering a lasting benefit for the city. it is working, just under 2 million people visited the glasgow area in 2013. that rose sharply to nearly 3 million during the year of the games and although the figures dropped back in the following years, more people are visiting the city now than before the games. the games also created housing the east end,

an area of deprivation. during the games this was home to 6500 athletes and it has been converted into 700 homes, regenerating the east side of glasgow. on the city centre streets, the answer was unanimous, thanks to the answer was unanimous, thanks to the games, glasgow has pride once more. it has had that tough attitude andi more. it has had that tough attitude and i think it shows that there is a lot of positive lovely people who we re lot of positive lovely people who were willing to let other people experience the city as well. it has brought a lot of people in. for yea rs brought a lot of people in. for years on, glasgow continues to ride the commonwealth games way. now before they head to glasgow — the top athletes will be in canada for stage 6 of the world series in edmunton. britain‘s women have made a promising start to the season with five ranked in the top 16 —

more than any other nation and for non stanford that can only mean good competition. i think at the minute the british women especially are in a really good place. we are really good unit and we are consistently top ten athletes now and that is great that we have not just athletes now and that is great that we have notjust got a couple doing that, we have four orfive we have notjust got a couple doing that, we have four or five and women who cannot even make the world series star line because there are too many britons there and that is brilliant for sport and it means we will keep pushing each other on and increasing standards. this weekend we will be looking to finish top ten and eve ryo ne everyone is the exception but she has a long—term injury and seems to be getting better and better. i am sure she will get podium by the end the season. if we can get five girls into the top ten, that is pretty consistent racing and it is not out

of our realm. you can follow the canadian leg of triathlon‘s world series on the bbc, the women‘s race is after midnight tonight and there are highlights on bbc two from 12 o‘clock on sunday. now if you thought the tour de france was hard core, imagine doing it on foot? well that‘s exactly what one british runner has done... pete thompson ran for 68 days , covering over 2000 miles, up and down some of the biggest mountains in europe — all for charity... and he was even ahead of schedule... well i spoke to pete earlier and first of all asked him why he wanted to do it? last year i ran a marathon in every country in europe on consecutive days and i finished that and i wa nted days and i finished that and i wanted to do something else. i have been really into the tour de france and watching it on the television last year, i had the idea and it did not leave. that was the spark. just how tough was it for you? it is hard to explain. now i have finished, it

can be easy to look back and forget the extremely difficult times when i was sat on the roadside just ready to throw in the towel. you have huge highs and lows, when you might get to the top of the mountain and have an extraordinary view and you have the support of other people when you get there, you‘re on a massive high, but there were days when i was running on straight roads with very little support and you really start to question why you are doing it if you can do it. i think that is a huge part of it, the mental side, you need to keep going when your legs are telling you otherwise. you we re legs are telling you otherwise. you were actually ahead of schedule and i guess that was because you had to finish before the actual cycling race started. it was. a huge part of the challenge was a set of pacro seven weeks before the riders and i gave myself that head start and i had 70 days to get to that finish line before them. i managed to do it in 68. it was the fact that we were

so close to the end and i wanted to push on. to make it there and to get there when they were stepping up the tour de france, i will neverforget that. well done. a reminder of our top story, geraint thomas is on the verge of winning his first grand tour title, he is now leading the tour de france by two minutes and five seconds. it all finishes on sunday in paris. that‘s all from sportsday. chris mitchell will be back with more sport at 8.15. but me from and the sportsday team. goodnight. hello. rain or storms this evening, the wettest weather we have seen in the wettest weather we have seen in the uk for quite some time. some dangerous thunderstorms and there is a met office amber warning to be

prepared for the storms, particularly in east anglia and towards linkage, flash flooding, dangerous winds, hell and a broad swathe of the east of britain will be affected by boundary downpours as we go through tonight and into tomorrow morning. tomorrow morning particularly still through the north—east of scotland as it begins to dry up. another muggy night in the east, to the west temperatures come down a bit, but still some cloud, rain and into tomorrow, heavy and thundery rain affecting the east of scotland, then it moves north and elsewhere you see a few sunny spells, showers move in, expect some heavy ones, affecting parts of wales, north—west england, northern ireland in particular, it is cooler, fresher than it has been recently, most noticeably where it has been hot, quite breezy as well. this is bbc news, the headlines at 7pm. —— at 8pm. travel chaos as the extreme weather causes disruption to rail and road journeys across the uk.

two and a half hours queuing from the motorway down to the check—in terminal. sat on the motorway embankment in 3a degrees heat. police warn against jumping into rivers and lakes to cool off. one boy is missing, two other people have died. but the heatwave could be coming to an end, as hail hits york while the met office issues an amber weather for the east of england and the east midlands as thunderstorms sweep in. also this evening: letters exchanged between prince charles and a bishop later convicted of being a paedophile have been read out at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. the prince of wales insists he was unaware of peter ball‘s crimes. a six—year—old boy has died after being shot with a pellet gun