As July approaches, one thing is on every cycling fan's mind – the Tour de France. And on Saturday, June 29, 2024, the men’s WorldTour peloton will be lining up in Florence, Italy, for the race's Grand Départ.
Anything can happen in three weeks of racing, and whoever ends their race in Nice donning the yellow jersey will have a career-defining moment as they win the biggest race in the sport. Last year’s winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) will be back to defend his title but still has question marks surrounding his current form. However, after a sensational Giro d'Italia last month, two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is looking like the rider to beat this year. Completing one of the most star-studded Grand Tour line-ups we've seen in years, battling it for the converted yellow jersey is also Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) – the first time the big four will go head-to-head this season.
However, there are also other riders looking to make their own Tour history, namely Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan), who is hunting a stage win. It is not just any stage win though, it's a stage win that’ll see him become the record holder for stage victories at the Tour, sitting above the legendary Eddy Merckx.
With so much to play for in this year's Tour de France, fans will not want to miss a moment of this nail-biting Grand Tour. Thankfully, there are plenty of places where you can watch every minute on a subscription, as well as free-to-air coverage.
How to watch the Tour de France live in the UK
The British free-to-air public broadcast television network, ITV4, and its online streaming platform, ITVX, will have live coverage of every stage throughout the Tour de France, wrapping up each stage with a highlights programme later on the same day. If you cannot tune in live, ITVX will host all the channel's highlights programmes to watch when best suits you.
Eurosport will also be hosting all 21 stages of the Tour de France on Eurosport 1, as well as featuring its pre- and post-stage show, The Breakaway. This live streaming will only be watchable if it is part of your TV subscription and will still include ad breaks.
However, if you want to watch every stage ad-free, streaming platforms such as Discovery+ allow you to watch each pedal stroke uninterrupted. You’ll need the standard package to watch the Tour, which is £6.99 a month and offers the ability to stream on your mobile phone, tablet, computer, game console and connected TV. On Discovery+, you are also able to rewatch any of the stages as well as catch up by watching the platform's highlights and extended highlights. Top tip: You can get a Discovery Plus Standard pass for no extra cost if you are a Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream customer.
For Welsh fans, the Tour de France will be free to watch via the channel S4C, and for those living in Ireland, TG4 will be showing all stages of this year’s race.
How to watch the Tour de France live in Europe
Discovery+ is also available across Europe, offering streaming services to Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Eurosport is also available in 73 countries, in 21 languages, so fans across Europe will be able to tune in to every single stage.
Free-to-air TV channels across Europe will also be hosting the Tour live and channels such as France TV (France), TV2 (Norway and Denmark), RTVE (Spain), and ARD (Germany) will be hosting start-to-finish coverage.
How to watch the Tour de France live in the USA
To watch all stages of the Tour in the US, Peacock will be streaming from kilometre zero, as well as featuring a pre- and post-race discussion show, full-stage replays, highlights, rider interviews and stage recaps. It was announced earlier this year that Peacock will be the exclusive home of the Tour de France in the United States, having signed a deal with ASO until 2029. To become a Peacock member, subscription packages start from $5.99 a month.
USA Network will also host a few stages of the Tour alongside NBC, who will be streaming the same select stages as USA Network. Both channels are free to watch, and live broadcasting will start between 5am and 8am Eastern Time. However, if you want to watch from a mobile device, the streaming platform Fubo allows fans to watch live TV over the internet, with plans starting from $74.99 a month.
How to watch the Tour de France live in Australia
For fans in Australia, SBS will broadcast all stages live and for free. The broadcast channel will also include daily highlights and exclusive content for its viewers down under with a team of commentators on the ground in France.
Other countries:
New Zealand: Sky Sport
Canada: FloBikes
Africa: TV5 Monde
Japan: J Sports
Middle East: BeIN Sports
South Asia: Eurosport
Caribbean: ESPN
