The summer cycling season started with the Giro d’Italia race. And as is customary, the cameras of Eurosport reporters follow every kilometer of all twenty-one stages that make up the first Grand Tour of 2024.
Giro d’Italia starts a new season. | Photo: Eurosport
Eurosport 1 broadcasts a total of 123 hours of live broadcasts in the European and Asian markets. In some regions, the complete Giro can be watched on free-to-air TV channels, e.g. in Germany on Eurosport 1 and in Norway on Kanal 5. In other countries, it will be key highlights from the race (DMAX in the United Kingdom, METRO in Poland).
WBD will also deploy its Cube augmented reality studio at this year’s Giro d’Italia, from which The Breakaway is broadcast every day for viewers in the United Kingdom. It will be hosted by Orla Chennaoui, Robbie McEwen, Dan Lloyd and will be joined by Nathan van Hooyndonck in the final week. Other regional content formats will include Velo Club in Germany, Kop Over Kop in the Netherlands, Les Rois de la Pedale in France and La Montonera in Spain.
Real-time reporting directly from the peloton is provided by a team of moto-reporters from among retired professional cyclists. Its members will be Jens Voigt, Adam Blythe, Daniel Oss and two-time Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador. Other expert comments from the background of the individual stages will be added by reporters Hannah Walker, Andrea Berton, Anders Mielke, Iris Slappendel and Louis-Pierre Frileux.
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“Our approach is inclusive, innovative and immersive. We currently offer viewers more men’s and women’s cycling than any other broadcaster, which means more than a thousand races per calendar year. Of course, there’s no bigger stage than the Grand Tours, so we’re looking forward to the first one finally kicking off,” said Scott Young, Senior Vice President of Content, Production and Business Operations at WBD Sports Europe.
“The Giro d’Italia follows on from our coverage of La Vuelta Feminina and the cycling Classics, so we will bring even more stories from this attractive world. Our stations and platforms are the only place in Europe to watch every minute of the Grand Tours – this includes the Max streaming platform, where it will be possible to watch the sport live for the first time ever. The same is of course true for cycling competitions at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris 2024,” he adds.
“To be successful at the Giro, you need to be a good rider because you need to handle a lot of technical finishes and corners in the last few kilometers. This race has a lot of history behind it and is associated with big names like Fausto Coppi or Marco Pantani. During my career, I have completed all the big races, including the Giro, more than once, so I am happy to be able to share these experiences with Eurosport viewers. On the one hand, you can continue your career in a different way, and on the other hand, you can keep track of what is happening in the world of cycling and follow the successes of a new generation of perfect riders,” adds Philippe Gilbert, Eurosport’s cycling expert and former world champion in road cycling.
A clash of two titans
The already extensive coverage of the first Grand Tour of 2024 is complemented by new episodes of the Watts Occurring podcast, which are published regularly during the race, and plenty of interviews, highlights and expert analysis in local languages on the Eurosport.com website. Additional content is added to Eurosport’s social media accounts TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. The special content offer will also arrive on the Max and discovery+ platforms, where you can watch, for example, a new six-part documentary series mapping the TUDOR Pro Cycling Team’s journey to their first ever Grand Tour. Regular coverage is provided by the weekly Tuesday broadcast of The Eurosport Cycling Show on Eurosport 1 and WBD streaming platforms.
Spectators expect a tense battle between two cycling titans from this year’s Giro. Both Tadej Pogačar and Geraint Thomas are hot favorites for the title, looking to add to their previous successes at the Tour de France. Apart from them, there are also a number of other contenders in the game, hoping that they will manage to dominate at least some of the stages. Among them are two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe and stage winners from past Grand Tours Filippo Ganna, Caleb Ewan, Fabio Jakobsen, Tim Merlier and Alberto Dainese.
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The first stage of the Corsa Rosa began on May 4 in Turin, and a total of 22 teams consisting of eight drivers met on the starting line. The 3,400-kilometer tour will conclude with a circuit around Rome on Sunday, May 26, which will also include a detour around the world-famous Colosseum.
The Giro d’Italia is one of the main events in WBD’s cycling portfolio. In its entirety, this includes over a thousand hours of live broadcasts per year and consists of all men’s and women’s Grand Tours variants, the UCI World Tour, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, the UCI Track Champions League and all cycling competitions at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
The summer sports season on WBD will count over five thousand hours of live broadcasts across the available platforms. Uninterrupted streaming of the year’s biggest sporting events, including the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, all cycling Grand Tours, the Roland-Garros and US Open tennis Grand Slams, the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, the FIM Speedway GP and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, goes without saying. In addition, TNT Sports in the UK and Ireland broadcasts all UEFA football finals and the Premier League and Premiership Rugby finals.
