How to watch pro bike racing in 2026
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In the darkest days of the northern winter, a brief glimmer of road bike racing hope appears in January: the Tour Down Under, in all the heat of its antipodal summer glory, a glimpse of the season to come. With February's UAE Tour and the rapid onrush of Opening Weekend, thoughts turn to the question that returns each spring as eternal as the swallows return to Capistrano, as reliably as Cian Uijtdebroeks breaking a contract, and with the same sense of dread that riders have when facing off against Tadej Pogačar:
Where the hell can I watch bike racing this year?
And thus begins an annual ritual of researching which streaming platforms have which races, how much they cost, and if there are any workarounds to save some money. That, my friends, is what I am here to answer.
The good news is that there are few major changes from the past couple of seasons, with the exception that FloBikes is now spreading to Australia and the Tour de France is no longer free to air in the UK. The bad news? The streaming environment hasn’t improved; it’s still fairly expensive and – in the US and Australia – split across multiple rightsholders. Worse: prices for Max and Peacock in the US have increased as both streaming services have placed live sports coverage in premium-level subscription tiers.
The modern sports streaming environment is a shitshow for other sports besides bike racing, but it's why this article is necessary.
The basic rundown of what's on where
US: As in past seasons, you’ll need three streaming subscriptions to cover all the men’s and women’s WorldTour. ASO races (men’s and women’s Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, etc.) are on Peacock. FloBikes has Flanders Classics (most cobbled Classics) and select other races such as the World Championships. And RCS events (Giro d’Italia/Women, Milan-San Remo, Strade Bianche) are still on Max. Calendars: Peacock Max FloBikes
UK: A one-stop shop with TNT Sports. In shades of last year’s early season platform switch, coverage will move from Discovery+ to HBO Max on March 26. Per an email to subscribers, you can simply use your Discovery+ account info to sign into HBO Max. Again, the Tour de France will no longer be free to air on ITV, at least as of now. Calendar: TNT Sports
Australia: Most races for which we know the broadcast rights details are on SBS On Demand, which is free to sign up. Last year, certain races were on the Staylive platform. Staylive offered cyclocross coverage through the end of the 2025/26 season but will not have road coverage in 2026. But we have a late substitution to the roster: FloBikes is expanding to the Australian market with coverage of a number of events SBS does not offer, essentially taking Staylive's place.
The deal is not official and AUD pricing is not yet available, but it's happening because races are visible for the Australian market in Flo's calendar. There's some overlap between SBS and Flo (RCS races appear on both SBS and Flo), and FloBikes doesn't fill all the holes, but it does cover much of what Staylive offered, with the addition of the Mountain Bike World Cup, formerly on Stan Sport. Note that pricing is currently in USD; AUD pricing will follow when the deal is official. This is an option if you don't mind the cost and want some of the lesser WT events not in the SBS calendar. Calendars: SBS FloBikes
Canada: As in the UK, substantially every men’s and women’s WorldTour race is blessedly found on one platform. In Canada, it’s FloBikes. Whether that's good or bad depends on what you think of Flo. Calendar: FloBikes
That's the basics. Now for our chart with the full breakdown of all known* men’s and women’s WorldTour broadcast rights across Escape ’s four largest membership markets. Our chart only covers the WorldTour and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne as part of the traditional Opening Weekend, but most of these services have rights to a number of races in other UCI calendars that might of interest. Check a streamer's listings for full details. These will likely change and evolve as the season progresses. The SBS calendar, for instance, only goes through March, while TNT Sports has different tabs that cover full-season calendars.
*Not all calendars are complete yet – if a race does not list a streamer, it may be that it simply hasn’t been added to a broadcast calendar yet. Check back later in the season.
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Coming up next in this guide:
- How much following the full WorldTour season will actually cost
- Ways to bundle subscriptions and reduce total spend
- Strategies fans use to watch the races they care about most
- The trade-offs between simplicity, cost, and coverage
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