How to watch this year’s Tour in the UK, US and Australia

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Published: Monday, 03 June 2024 at 10:22 AM

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It’s almost time to throw your winter and spring fitness out of the window, as you settle in to sit on the couch watching three weeks of wall-to-wall coverage of the 2024 Tour de France – plus another week in August for the Tour de France Femmes.

This year, there’s something a little different on offer with the Grand Départ in Florence, and another three Italian stage starts before the race enters France.

Although it skirts Paris, it never makes it to the Champs-Élysées, heading back to finish in Nice.

If you’ve got five-plus hours to spend each day, you can watch the entire men’s race end-to-end in many territories. For the more time-pressed, plenty of highlight options compress the day’s action to an hour or so.

If you’re really stuck for time, daily five-minute highlights on the Le Tour website – which are also posted to YouTube – will keep you abreast of all of the action.

Unlike many other big cycling races, terrestrial broadcasters pay attention to the Tour de France, so you can watch at least some of it subscription-free in most territories. There’s a full list of broadcasters by country on the official Le Tour site.

There’s also the option to use a VPN to stream from a country with free terrestrial coverage, although most VPNs with decent geographic coverage and streaming speeds will require a subscription and you may have to listen to commentary in French.

How can I watch the Tour de France live in the UK?

In the UK, ITV4, and Eurosport/Discovery+ are broadcasting live. ITV4 is free to air, as is S4C for Welsh speakers.

Eurosport requires a subscription: £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year.

There’s coverage on TG4 in the Republic of Ireland.

All of the above offer evening highlights and analysis of the day’s action too.

How can I watch the Tour de France live in the US?

Viewers in the US can enjoy daily coverage on NBC Sports and Peacock. You can watch on NBC on demand too – there’s no additional charge above your cable, satellite or telco TV provider’s subscription cost.

Peacock access requires a subscription to its premium tier, priced at $5.99 plus tax per month. There’s currently a deal at $19.99 for a year’s access for new subscribers.

How can I watch the Tour de France live in Australia?

Cycling fans in Australia can enjoy every stage live on SBS. Handily, there’s a free on-demand service if you’re not an insomniac, while there are daily highlights on the SBS Sport website. There’s coverage and more on the SBS Tour Tracker app too.

Stages and start times

Like the race itself, stage start times are a moveable feast, with starts as early as 11.15am CET and as late as 2.40pm CET.

End times will vary significantly too, depending on stage length, how hard the terrain is and how fast it’s ridden.

Fortunately, the Tour de France has organised a few of these races before, so it’s got a pretty good idea of when the first riders are likely to reach the finish.

Again, that’s highly variable – anything from 4.28pm CET to 7.30pm CET, so you need to be on your toes to make sure you’re watching early enough not to miss the end-stage action.

Here’s a table, taken from the official Le Tour website, of expected start and end times for each stage. If you want to see particular action, the time the race is expected to reach intermediate points is set out on the site too, right down to railway level crossings and tiny villages in la France profonde.

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