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How to follow the race: Live coverage and recaps
- In the US, NBC has the rights to the Tour. They used to show ~2.5 hours of “condensed” race coverage in prime time every night, which we suspect they will do again this year, albeit there is no confirmation online (one of the many reasons cycling is difficult to navigate).
- Even if you are only watching highlights, we do recommend watching at least one full stage to get a taste of how the tension ratchets up as the peloton moves through the route. Allow us to suggest canceling plans on Saturday July 19 for Stage 14, which features one of cycling's most iconic climbs, the Col du Tourmalet.
Live and Replay Online streaming:
- $ Peacock is NBC’s online streaming coverage for the Tour, and will have both full live stages and condensed highlights with US commentators online. People are divided on the quality of American commentators; we think they’re a little better than many give them credit for. US coverage, like all coverage, focuses a bit more on home riders.
- $ FloBikes has the World Feed, which you can access from Canada. The World Feed commentators, Nico Roche and Ant McCrossan, are very good. But FloBikes is evil and will spoil results. We literally hold our hands over our screens when accessing delayed coverage to avoid this –– but that’s how much we love Nico and Ant.
- ITV 4/X is a free-with-ads British stream for the Tour, but don’t get used to it as the service is being cruelly axed after 2025.
- $ TNT/Discovery+ will have the English-speaking Eurosport team, with a host of commentators of varying fun and quality (desolée but it’s true). However, the cost is very high as of this year’s merger to some mega sport channel.
- SBS brings you the Tour from Australia, and has excellent commentary, albeit with ads.
- RTBF streams from Belgium for the francophone crowd, and, if you are an Evenepoel (or Tiesj Benoot) fan, will be a good choice for you.
- France.TV is another francophone option with good coverage including individual moto cams, replay options, package highlights etc.
- Sporza and VRT, for the Dutch-speaking amongst us. 🙏
At the end of the day, there are many different streaming options; many of them are centered in Europe, where cycling is most popular, and we have barely scratched the surface of what’s available. (Latin American, German and Scandi coverage, for example, has been sorely neglected here.) But if this doesn’t get you, our primarily North American audience, started, nothing will.
- Lanterne Rouge will have recaps with voiceover and video action on YouTube, generally under 15 minutes.
- NBC has longer recaps on YouTube, ~30 minutes/stage. You see plenty of action, but they skip around in the race which can be hard to follow if you aren’t paying attention.
- Chris Horner is a former American pro cyclist who does recaps on YouTube which cover mostly decisions and strategy. Be warned, he will use the word “chesterfield” at least once per episode.
Recaps –– Podcasts:
- Lanterne Rouge Cycling Podcast is LR’s audio arm, which puts out daily podcast recaps including previews of the next stage. LRCP Tour episodes will be between 30-60 minutes depending on how action packed the stage was.
- JB2 is a spin off of The Move and you’ll find it under The Move in most podcast players. Do not, we repeat, do not listen to The Move –– look specifically for JB2 episodes. You will get all the information, analysis, and predictions you need from JB2 and you won’t have to listen to Lance Armstrong. You will, however, have to listen to 12 minutes per episode of ketones ads, so keep your phone handy to fast forward. These episodes will run you about 15-20 minutes of actual analysis.
- Disclaimer: cycling, as all sports, is full of scumbags and cheaters. This is something you’re going to have to get past. Johan Bruyneel, one of the eponymous JBs, has a lifetime ban from the sport for participation in doping schemes. He also has good analysis and insight into team management.
- We still hate Lance Armstrong though.
- Domestique Cycling should have some podcast coverage, at least a preview and recap. As they are a new outfit, we can’t speak directly to their Tour coverage but they do generally offer analysis and opinion worth considering.
We recommend that you get a recap in every day. While some stages are fairly routine, you also never know what might happen and it will be much easier to build the narrative of the race if you follow it daily, rather than just checking in on ‘big’ stages.
Finally, just a note that every coverage has bias, and there are often multiple worthwhile takes on a team’s strategy, whether or not riders are making the right moves, and so on. Start with one recap, but branch out if you get into cycling and want to improve your strategy knowledge.