You now understand how the peloton works, what role the teams play, how the calendar is organised, and why the Tour de France is the most important race in road cycling.
Now comes the key question:
Where can you watch professional cycling?
The broadcasting rights landscape for cycling is a puzzle that varies from country to country. The good news is that a handful of global platforms dominate most of the international calendar (the UCI WorldTour).
Here’s the definitive guide to following professional cycling worldwide:
| Region | Main Platform | Key Races Covered |
| Europe (United Kingdom, Spain, France, etc.) | Max (HBO) / Discovery+ / Eurosport | Almost 100% of the calendar. The Giro d’Italia, the Spring Classics and the Tour de France (in various countries via Eurosport channels). |
| United States | Peacock | Races organised by ASO: the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. |
| Max (with B/R Sports) | The Giro d’Italia, Strade Bianche, Milan–San Remo and most Italian races. | |
| FloBikes | The UCI World Championships, the Flanders races (Omloop, Ghent–Wevelgem) and the Tour Down Under. | |
| Canada | FloBikes | Virtually everything. In Canada, FloBikes holds the exclusive rights to almost all major events, including the Tour de France. |
| Australia | SBS On Demand | The Tour de France and many major classics. |
| Stan Sport | The UCI World Cycling Championships and track/MTB events. | |
| Latin America | ESPN / Disney+ | They hold the broadcasting rights for the vast majority of the year’s major races, including the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta, across the entire region. |
Free-to-air Channels by Country
Cycling continues to be well supported by public service television in various parts of the world. If you live in one of these countries or access their official digital platforms, you can watch the best races for free:
- Australia: SBS / SBS On Demand broadcasts all 21 stages of the Tour de France and the Vuelta exclusively and completely free of charge.
- France: France Télévisions (France.tv) offers spectacular free-to-air coverage of the Tour de France and the classics held on French soil.
- Belgium: RTBF (in French) and VRT/Sporza (in Flemish). It’s a cycling paradise; they broadcast almost the entire spring classics calendar and the Grand Tours for free.
- Italy: RAI (Rai Play) broadcasts the entire Giro d’Italia and the country’s classics (such as Il Lombardia or Milan–San Remo) free of charge.
- Spain: RTVE (Teledeporte and RTVE Play) broadcasts the Tour, the Vuelta and the World Championships for free.
The cycling community’s trick: As broadcasting rights are so geographically fragmented, many fans combine a subscription to a streaming platform with geolocation tools (VPNs) to tune in to free broadcasts from SBS Australia or Sporza Belgium when their local platforms do not cover a specific event.
Is there a single platform for watching all cycling?
No.
Unlike other sports, cycling does not have a single global platform that broadcasts all races in every country. In other words, there is no RoadCyclingTV or UCI-TV, as there is with NBATV or the NFL Network.
As we’ve just seen, broadcasting rights are sold on a country-by-country or territory-by-territory basis, so the platform showing a race may vary depending on where you are.
That’s why two fans following exactly the same race might watch it on different services depending on their country.
Which platform offers the most cycling coverage internationally?
Currently, the platform that carries the majority of professional cycling broadcasts in many countries is Max, which has taken over Eurosport’s long-standing coverage following the integration of its sports content.
Is it possible to follow cycling without watching every race?
Of course.
In fact, many fans follow the whole season without watching every race in full.
Nowadays, it’s possible to keep up to date via:
- Official highlights.
- Specialist YouTube channels.
- Social media.
- Live-tracking apps.
- Podcasts and analysis programmes.
It’s never been easier to follow professional cycling. And if you don’t have several hours to watch a full stage, there are accounts on X and Telegram channels that – without giving away the result – tell you exactly when to start watching the race so you don’t miss the most exciting bits.
What’s the best way to get started?
If you’ve only just discovered the sport, don’t try to watch everything. These days, the Giro, the Tour and the Five Monuments are broadcast in full – that is, from the first kilometre to the last. Watching everything, if you’re just starting out, will take up many hours of your time.
We recommend you start with a great spring classic. Roubaix is the most interesting race to watch in its entirety because so much happens right from the first kilometre. Also worth watching are the final 40 km of Milan–San Remo or the last 100 km of De Ronde.
In the Grand Tours, the mountain and medium-mountain stages are usually the most interesting. The World Championships are an event you shouldn’t miss, but you don’t need to watch them from the very start either.
The more you watch and the more closely you listen to the commentary, the more you’ll learn to recognise the leading riders, understand how the teams work and enjoy the stories that unfold both within and outside the peloton.
Because once you understand what’s going on, cycling ceases to be just a group of riders pedalling along a road and becomes one of the most complex, unpredictable and thrilling sports in existence.
What will we be looking at in the next piece?
Having covered how the peloton works, the teams, the riders, the calendar, the Tour de France and ways to follow the races, it’s now time to give you 10 tips for understanding a race in 10 minutes.
