Hello and welcome to Eurosport's live coverage of the UCI Road World Championships women's elite road race. Racing kicks off from Bradford in about ten minutes. Stay tuned for now...

Racing for Britain today, with team leader Lizzie Deignan, are sisters Alice and Hannah Barnes, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Henderson and Nicola Juniper.

Henderson won two firsts in this year's under-23 British National Road Race Championships, in the road race and time trial events

Alice Barnes also won first place in two events at this year's National Road Race Championships: the road race and time trial

We have 49 nations represented in today's elite women's road race. While nations such as Great Britain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, have six or seven riders represented apiece, there are also single riders from countries including Eritrea, Macao, Zimbabwe and Paraguay

Racing is now underway. There is a bit of a headwind for riders as they set off in earnest

We're still in the neutral zone, as riders make their way through the sunlit streets of Bradford, and get ready to start the race proper

Here's Britain's Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson greeting fans earlier before the start in Bradford

And here's the Dutch team, just before setting off

Other favourites include the American rider Coryn Rivera, and Italy's Marta Bastianelli

Favourites for today's race include defending champion, Dutchwoman Anna Van der Breggen.

The Dutch have a strong team which includes three times World Road Race Champion, Marianne Vos, and Annamiek Van Vleuten, who won the women's Individual Time Trial on Thursday - both of whom are contenders for a win today

Britain's Lizzie Deignan, racing on home soil today, was World Road Race champion in 2015, winning in Richmond, Virginia. Deignan is, of course, hoping for a win today.

And they're off!

Today's race is a 149.9km course from Bradford to Harrogate. The riders will set off from Bradford, riding roughly 100km to Harrogate before taking on three laps through the streets of Harrogate