"I hope and believe the stages will be free-to-air in the UK" - Tour director optimistic that at least the 2027 Grand Départ will make it onto British TVs
CyclingSaturday, 22 March 2025 at 09:00
From 2026 onwards, the Tour de France will be hidden behind paywall for all cycling fans in UK after an exclusive deal between Warner Bros Discovery and Tour organiser ASO sealed the future of free-to-air broadcast in the country until 2030.
However, there is a glimmer of hope for British fans, with Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme saying he is "optimistic" that at least the Grand Départs of both 2027 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes will have free live coverage in the UK, Cycling Weekly reports.
"There will be discussions, of course," he said on Wednesday, at the announcement of the Grands Départs. "But I do hope - and I do believe - that the stages will be live and free-to-air in 2027 in the UK. There will be discussions and we're optimistic."
As for the remaining 18 men's stages and six women's stages - WBD likely won't support any sort of bargain that would hurt the incomes coming from its exclusive deal with ASO. Therefore the remainder of both Tours is still likely to be paywalled.
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- Is he one of those people attending the race to boo, throw beer or spit at MvDP?
KerisVroom25-05-2025 - (Just notice how long this is. Sorry.) I wonder why people rank van der Poel above Pogacar as a classics rider, like Museeuw does. Using Procyclingstats for what follows: Pogacar has 22 classics wins, of which 9 are monuments and 19 are at world tour level, and then there’s also one national and one world championship. His first classics win was 2021. Van der Poel has 26 classics wins, of which 8 are monuments and 17 are at world tour level, and there are 2 national and one world championship. His first classics win was in 2014. If we compare only the seasons from 2021 to now (meaning, from Pogacar’s first season with a classics won forward), van der Poel has 16 classics wins, of which 7 are monuments and 12 are at world tour level, and there’s a world championship. If we compare the seasons since Pogacar turned pro in 2019, then they are even at 22 classics wins, back to the 9 vs. 8 comparison of monuments, more of Pogacar’s are at world tour level (19 vs 16 of their 22), and they are even with 1 national and 1 world championship each. So it is damn close, but when I look at the stats alone, Pogacar comes out as the better classics rider in a head to head comparison, except at San Remo and Roubaix (his 4th place in a 2 man sprint at his first Flanders race has been more than rectified since). And yes, Pogacar will basically always lose the sprint at the end of a race to van der Poel, which requires him to use different tactics. So I get it, van der Poel is amazing, I absolutely love watching him race, I still think his Amstel win is one of the more superhuman feats I’ve seen in biking, and I got into CX and mountain biking because of him. But Pogacar, on the road, has a better head-to-head record. Sure, he also wins grand tours, but does that make him a worse classics rider? It shouldn’t. His record shows how amazing he is.RidesHills25-05-2025
- Some of those streets are the width of a car, this is stupid, I hope they don't take out the Tour winner.awp25-05-2025
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DareDevil25-05-2025 - They should have waited in my view. Poor sportsmanship.Mart25-05-2025
- Would love to see him pull it off. Seems like a thoroughly decent guy.mobk24-05-2025
- Shame that, lads a natural, he'll have his time!
leedorney24-05-2025 - Whaaa? What’s the problem with mvdp? He’s just as classyCrashjames24-05-2025
- WvA says it right as always, great guy better then MvdP anyhow 👍leedorney24-05-2025
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