Organisers will be relieved for the focus to switch to the roads of London, with a particularly troubled build-up to the men’s elite race.

Britain’s Mo Farah became embroiled in a public war of words with distance running great Haile Gebrselassie, following a claim the four-time Olympic champion had been burgled at a hotel owned by the Ethiopian.

World half-marathon record holder Abraham Kiptum was then suspended yesterday by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after being charged with an athlete biological passport (ABP) violation.

The Kenyan had been due to compete, but has now left London.

Tomorrow’s race is expected to see Chicago Marathon champion Farah go head-to-head with Kipchoge over the 26.2-mile distance.

British tennis star Sir Andy Murray will be the race-starter, with Kipchoge the clear favourite.

The world record holder will hope to clinch a fourth London Marathon crown, which could see him edge Farah for the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series title.

Kipchoge’s coach Patrick Sang has tipped the Kenyan to break his own course record of 2 hours 3 min and 5 sec, which he set in 2016.

The women’s elite field has been billed as the deepest in history, with four major marathon champions set to take part.

This includes Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei and Gladys Cherono, the winners of the Chicago and Berlin Marathons, respectively.

The duo will hope to challenge fellow Kenyans Mary Keitany, the New York Marathon winner, and defending champion Cheruiyot.

Keitany will also hope to secure the fourth Abbott World Marathon Majors Series crown of her career.

The women’s wheelchair series sees Switzerland’s Manuela Schär the clear leader, having won every race so far.

United States’ Daniel Romanchuk heads the men’s standings following victory in Boston.

The 20-year-old will face Switzerland’s Marcel Hug and Britain’s David Weir, who has won the race the past two years.

Weir will compete in his 20th consecutive London Marathon.

The race doubles as the World Para Athletics Marathon Championships.

Organisers said a milestone of £1 billion ($1.3 billion/€1.1 billion) raised for charity had been achieved this year.

Half of the money has been raised in the past nine years with the amount pledged to charity in this year's race expected to be up 20 per cent on 2018.

It is estimated that 75 per cent of the field of 40,000 runners take part in the London Marathon for charity.

This year's official charity of the London Marathon is the Alzheimer's Society.