GCN+, the streaming option of choice for cycling fans in countries around the world, has shut down on December 19, with Saturday's Herentals X2O Badkamers race the last cyclocross race to be broadcast on the GCN+ platform.
The closure of GCN+ means fans in the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and in numerous other countries worldwide are working out how to watch cycling for the rest of 2023 and into the 2024 road racing season.
GCN+ owners Warner Bros Discovery announced that they will begin broadcasting live cycling events starting in February on Max and TNT Sports including 53 women's races.
Subscribers to Max in the USA will need to purchase the B/R Sports add-on to view the live cycling roster, which, according to the press release, will include more than 300 events including the Giro d'Italia, the E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and "more".
Other events include the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, UCI Track Champions League plus 'The Breakaway' pre-and post-race show.
Former professional riders Alberto Contador, Philippe Gilbert, Robbie McEwen and Jens Voigt are among the experts who will feature in the live coverage.
The announcement answers some questions of how American viewers can access live cycling coverage previously aired on GCN+ as most races transition to other broadcasters not available in the USA and Canada.
That still leaves many viewers without options for races in the coming weeks across the cyclocross and road seasons. First up, there's the second half of the 2023-24 cyclocross season – including the Christmas period, battles between the 'big three' of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, and Tom Pidcock, plus the World Championships in February.
Then there are the opening days of the 2024 road season, including the men's and women's Tour Down Under and the Spanish and French season openers in Valencia and Marseille.
To try to help race fans, we've compiled all the future viewing options for the cyclocross and road seasons so that you can get your live racing fix even without GCN+ – with Warner Brothers announcing that Max will be the new home of live cycling in the USA from February 2024 onwards.
Read on for all you need to know, including information on how to watch racing even if you're abroad on holiday using a VPN such as ExpressVPN.
How to watch live cycling in the USA & Canada
Some live cycling in the USA and Canada will continue to be broadcast via FloBikes. A subscription will set you back US$149.99 / CAN$150 for the year or US$29.99 / CAN$29.99 on a monthly basis.
However, be warned that FloBikes hasn't picked up all live broadcasting rights from GCN+. They will be airing UCI World Cup and X20 Trofee cyclocross events going forward, though, as well as road racing at the Tour Down Under and AlUla Tour in January.
NBC and its streaming service PeacockTV also holds the rights to several major races throughout the year, including the Tour de France in the USA, though none in December or January.
Live cycling broadcasts on Max start in February, 2024.
A subscription to Max (HBO Max subscribers will automatically be converted to Max) costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year with ads, $15.99/month or $149.99/year for ad-free and $19.99/month or $199.99/year for "Ultimate Ad-Free". The B/R Sports add-on (free for Max subscribers through February 29, 2024) will cost $9.99/month more and requires a base subscription.
How to watch live cycling in the UK
In the UK, live coverage of races will continue to be broadcast via Eurosport and Discovery+ – all with the same races and commentators that featured on GCN+
A 'Standard' subscription to Discovery+ which includes Eurosport's cycling coverage will set you back £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. That costs more than GCN+ but the package includes year-round cycling streams as well as other live sports including snooker, tennis, motorsports, the Paris Olympic Games, and more.
A premium subscription, which includes all that plus TNT Sports (Premier League, Champions League and Europa League football plus rugby, wrestling, UFC, and MotoGP) costs £29.99 per month.
How to watch live cycling around the world
Countries around Europe will continue to offer live cycling coverage via various national and regional broadcasters, including RAI (Italy), RTVE (Spain), Sporza (Belgium), and France TV (France).
At the time of writing no other broadcasters appear to have picked up the rights to live stream cyclocross races in Australia after the closure of GCN+.
It's worth remembering that Europeans on holiday can watch all cyclocross live streams on Discovery+ Eurosport by using a VPN such as ExpressVPN from abroad.
Full information on how to do that just below.
Best VPN for streaming live cycling
There are a couple other very good options that are safe, reliable and offer good bandwidth for streaming sports. Check out the best two options below - NordVPN and the best budget option, Surfshark.
Live cycling schedule
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