Million selling album soprano Laura Wright, the England rugby team’s first ever official anthem singer, who hails from Framsden in Suffolk, will open the team presentation for the 2015 Friends Life Women’s Tour on Tuesday 16 June.

The event will come at the end of an afternoon of events and activities in Bury St Edmunds, building up to the team presentation which will take place at the Arc shopping centre, outside The Apex theatre, the evening before Stage One departs from Angel Hill in the town.

A new addition to the Friends Life Women’s Tour for 2015, the Team Presentation will give spectators the chance to see each of the 16 competing teams presented to the crowds, hear the riders interviewed as well as meeting the star names from teams such as Boels Dolmans, Wiggle Honda and Bigla Pro Cycling for photographs and autographs.

Prior to the first team appearing on stage at 1730, Laura Wright will perform a couple of tracks fresh from her nationwide tour and from her latest album “Sound of Strength”.

Diary permitting Laura will also take part in the official media ride previewing Stage One during late May, before taking on the ultimate challenge for SportsAid of riding the opening stage ahead of the world’s top riders, starting early on the early morning of Wednesday 17 June and riding a Vitus bike, kindly provided by the race’s Official Bicycle Brand Vitus.

Laura Wright said: “I’m really excited about performing at the team presentation and cycling the same route as the professionals on the morning of the race in aid of SportsAid. It promises to be a fantastically memorable occasion.

“When I agreed to become an ambassador for SportsAid I wanted to do something practical to raise money to support the fantastic work that the charity does to help talented young sports people overcome the financial challenges they face. Cycling Stage One of the Friends Life Women’s Tour will be gruelling but will be really worthwhile if it raises money for the charity. There are a number of places available for any budding cyclists who would like to join me on the ride and support the future of British Sport. Details are available at www.sportsaid.org.uk.”

Alongside the team presentation will be a range of other activities, in Charter Square. Riders can measure their cycling performance on Watt Bikes or make delicious drinks on the pedal powered smoothie bike.  Race Scalextric cars around a track using pedal power alone, and have a virtual race using roller cycles.

A full schedule of the day’s events, including when each of the 16 world-class teams will be on stage between 1730 and 1900 will be published at the end of May.

Stage One will start from Bury St Edmunds’ Angel Hill at 11.00 and is expected to finish at the Market Cross in Aldeburgh at around 14.15. Stage Two will start from Braintree’s Market Place at 10.00 and is expected to finish at around 14.00 on Clacton’s Marine Parade.  Highlights of each stage will be shown on ITV4 every evening during the race.

After the opening two days in Suffolk and Essex, the third stage comes in Northamptonshire, from Oundle to Kettering before Stage Four on Saturday 20th June from Waltham Cross to Stevenage in Hertfordshire, and then the final leg through Buckinghamshire, the Chiltern Hills and Dacorum on Sunday 21st June.