ever, i am highest tour de france ever, i am not sure what that means. there's a lot of very high finishes but there area lot of very high finishes but there are a few of the hardest category climbs and there are more second category climbs, media mountains. it seems to have been designed to have quite an open race without a dominant team. that is the big ambition for the organisers to break the team sky stranglehold. a course that favours one could say the french raiders, very talented, who are good on these punchier climbs. the tour de france route is always very ha rd the tour de france route is always very hard and it always favours strong climbers and all—rounders and this is no different. in the detail there are some quite interesting features. they were forced to be joint team leaders, will this be the

cost they follow? it is hard to know. i can seejerry and thomas reverting to the team role he has played. i would have thought chris froome would be marginally ahead in the pecking order. they might go in with an open mind as to who is best suited to this course and this race. pretty much as they did this year. i think that worked out pretty well for them so they may go with the same approach. i would put chris froome marginally ahead. now, let's round up some of the other stories making the headlines today. kyle edmund's winning run has come to an end. the british number one, who claimed his first tour title in belgium at the weekend, lost in three sets to fernando verdasco in the second round in vienna. edmund would now have to win the paris masters next week to have a chance of qualifying for the atp finals. defending champion caroline wozniacki is out of the wta finals as elena svitolina made it

through to the semi—finals in singapore with a battling three sets win. svitolina joins karolina pliskova in the last four. surrey wicketkeeper ben foakes has been called up to the england test squad for the series against sri lanka as cover forjonny bairstow, who has an ankle ligament injury that he picked up playing football in training. foakes is due to arrive in colombo this weekend with the first test starting on 6th november. and england have moved up to fifth in the latest football world rankings, their highest position for five years. gareth southgate's team beat spain in the nations league in their last match. wales move up to 18th while northern ireland drop to 34th. scotland are 40th with belgium top of the rankings. the world series is heading out west after the red sox won again in boston to take a 2—0 lead over the los angeles dodgers. the next three games, if needed, are in la, where the dodgers' play will need to improve as much as the temperature will rise.

chris mitchell was watching game two at fenway park. these boston fans spilling out of fenway park are very happy and as well they might be. they are 2—0 up and heading to los angeles. when a team goes 2—0 up in a world series they usually go on to win, but it was the manner of the victory. it was the steel the boston red sox showed which will really inspire the fans and put the fear into the dodgers. at the bottom of the fifth, 2—1 down to the dodgers with two men out, they held their nerve and scored three runs to take the lead 4—2 and that is how the game would remain. the red sox looking really good, their starting pitcher david price doing an excellentjob as well. the dodgers now go back to the west coast knowing that they have a mountain to climb.

the only regret these fans might have is that the world series might not be coming back here this year. the red sox might already have done enough to win the world series. finally, it's a big day for one particular french gentleman tomorrow. robert marchand will celebrate his 107th birthday by doing something that he's being doing for a0 years. yes, monsieur marchand only took up cycling when he was 67 but in the decades since he's been breaking all sorts of records. including here when he was 105. managing more than 14 miles in an hour around the track at a velodrome near paris. he was even going too fast for some of the stewards. he originally retired after this effort. turns out he wasn't done. because he'll be back there tomorrow to do it again. happy birthday, robert. impressive. i better get onto the

bike quickly to match him. leipzig are currently beating celtic 2—0. the arsenal game is 0—0. arsenal looking for their 11th straight win. chelsea and rangers are playing later. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. hello there. we have done pretty well with the dry and sunny weather recently. if you thought the last few days were chilly, just wait until the weekend, it will feel much much colder. there will be an arctic blast right across the uk which will produce wintry showers, mainly across the hills of the north but overnight frost

will also mean the risk of ice in places. the next few days, we start off with milder air, look at those cold blues spreading southwards as the arctic blast pours south right across the country with strong northerly winds as well. at the moment we have the milder air with us, behind these looms the cold air and it will eventually move southwards as the night moves on into northern areas. this is the weather front across southern parts of the country. behind it is much colder, especially over high ground. less cold in the south with some rain showers, cloud and some clear spells. we start off with cloud early tomorrow morning across southern regions with the mild air then the sunshine moves in. the cold air moves southwards as well. the showers will turn increasingly wintry. further south, some good sunny spells around. for the weekend, you can see isobars showing close together meaning a strong north easterly wind

blowing across the country, pushing showers into northern scotland, down the east and also the west coast as well. plenty of sunshine in southern areas but that strong northerly wind will bring cold air, making it feel cold. temperatures around six, maybe eight or nine in the south or ten in the south—west. add on the strong winds and low single—digit figures across the board. into sunday, the winds moved to the north—east, a little less cold across the east coast. some showers but there will be a lot of sunshine around, temperatures a degree or so up on sunday but still feeling cold. next week, we begin on a wet and windy note but gradually it will be less cold as the week moves on. in

you're in watching beyond one hundred days. 10 devices, 8 targets — the list of senior americans who've received explosives is growing. they are actors, politicians, former presidents — but they have one thing in common. they are all critics of donald trump. the devices were sent in the mail, they were functional but rudimentary, they had pipes and wires. that's what we know — what we don't is who sent them and why. the us military is sending 800 troops to the mexican border in anticipation of the arrival of a caravan of migrants. also on the programme. saudi arabia admits for the first time that the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi was premeditated — president trump is to be briefed by his cia director who has been gathering information in turkey. the billionaire sir philip green has been named in the uk parliament as the businessman accused