The Tour de France kicked off in Florence, Italy on Sunday 29 June with an incredibly challenging start to the 2024 edition.
Romain Bardet and his DSM-Firmenich-PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek stole the show from the sprinters. The Frenchman wore the yellow jersey for the first time in his career after his stage win.
He will wear the yellow jersey on stage two, while Van den Broek will wear the green jersey and Uno-X’s Jonas Abrahamsen won the polka dot mountains jersey on stage one.
Stage 2 starts in Cesena on the Adriatic coast and heads northwest to Bologna. While it’s less mountainous, there are six classified climbs and a time bonus sprint on the Côte de San Luca to spice up the finale.
On Monday, the race will move further west to Piacenza, where the much flatter 230.8 km third stage is scheduled with a probable sprint finish in Turin. On the fourth stage, the race will reach French soil with the first high mountain stage and the highest point of the Tour de France on the Col du Galibier.
Giro d’Italia winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is expected to put pressure on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike), whose form is questionable after a heavy crash in April, as well as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who was ill after the Critérium du Dauphiné, and his biggest rival Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
The The Tour de France can be broadcast for free on ITVX (UK) and SBS On Demand (AUS).. Not at home? You can Watch for free from anywhere with a VPN.
How to watch the Tour de France for free
The Tour de France 2024 will be broadcast in Australia on SBS on Demand, in the UK on ITV4 and in Wales on S4C.
If you live in or are vacationing in one of these countries, you can enjoy the month of racing without paying subscription fees. However, if you are away from home on vacation during the race, you can watch the races without having to take out a local streaming subscription.
A VPN could solve your problem. Below you will find all the information on how to follow what is happening with a VPN.
How to watch the Tour de France in the USA and Canada
The Tour de France will be broadcast on NBC Sports USA and its streaming service Peacock TV.
FloBikes is the Tour de France host for Canada. An annual subscription costs $29.99/month or $150/year.
Peacock TV offers a seven-day free trial for anyone who wants to try the service before purchasing, with a full subscription to the service starting at $4.99 per month.
NBC is available through cable plans, and if you don’t have cable, you can watch the channel through Hulu ($7.99 per month with a 30-day free trial), DirecTV (starting at $64.99 per month with a five-day free trial), and FuboTV (starting at $74.99 per month with a seven-day free trial).
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Date
stage
Start/End Times (EDT)
29 June
Stage 1
6:00 – 11:34 am
June 30th
Level 2
6:15 – 11:06
July 1
level 3
5:15 – 10:57
2nd July
Level 4
7:05 – 11:05
3rd of July
Stage 5
6:20 – 11:16
4th of July
Stage 6
7:35 – 11:19
5th July
Stage 7
7:05 – 11:29
July 6
Stage 8
7:05 – 11:19
7th of July
Stage 9
7:15 – 11:49
8th of July
Rest day 1
Row 9 – Cell 2
July 9
Stage 10
7:05 – 11:24
10th of July
Stage 11
5:20 – 10:54
July 11
Stage 12
6:35 – 11:16
July 12
Stage 13
7:30 – 11:21
July 13
Stage 14
7:05 – 11:17
July 14
Stage 15
5:55 – 11:22
15th of July
Rest day 2
Row 16 – Cell 2
16th of July
Stage 16
7:05 – 11:31
17th July
Stage 17
6:35 – 10:58
July 18
Stage 18
7:00 – 11:30
July 19
Stage 19
6:20 – 10:28
20th of July
Stage 20
7:35 – 11:18
21 July
Stage 21
8:40 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
How to watch the Tour de France in the UK
Viewers in the UK can watch the Tour de France on ITV4, the Welsh-language channel S4C, as well as Eurosport and Discovery+.
A ‘standard’ subscription to Discovery+, which includes Eurosport’s cycling coverage, costs £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. A premium subscription, which includes all that plus TNT Sports (Premier League, Champions League and Europa League, plus rugby, wrestling, UFC and MotoGP), costs an additional £29.99 per month.
How to follow the Tour de France worldwide
If you want a local feel and full French-language coverage of the race, head to France TV. Pan-European broadcasters include ARD in Germany, Sporza and RTBF in Belgium, Rai in Italy and RTVE in Spain.
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Date
stage
start end
distance
Start/finish times (CET)
29 June
Stage 1
Florence – Rimini
206km
12:00 – 17:34
June 30th
Level 2
Cesenatico – Bologna
198.7km
12:15 – 17:06
July 1
level 3
Piacenza – Turin
230.5km
11:15 – 16:57
2nd July
Level 4
Pinerolo – Valloire
139.6km
13:05 – 17:05
3rd of July
Stage 5
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Saint-Vulbas Plaine de l’Ain
177.4km
13:20 – 17:16
4th of July
Stage 6
Macon – Dijon
163.5km
13:35 – 17:19
5th July
Stage 7
Nuits-Saint-Georges – Gevrey-Chambertin
25.3 km (individual time trial)
13:05 – 17:29
July 6
Stage 8
Semur-en-Auxois – Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
183.4km
13:05 – 17:19
7th of July
Stage 9
Troyes – Troyes
199km
13:15 – 17:49
8th of July
Rest day 1
Orleans
Row 9 – Cell 3
Row 9 – Cell 4
July 9
Stage 10
Orleans – Saint-Amand-Montrond
187.3km
13:05 – 17:24
10th of July
Stage 11
Évaux-les-Bains – Le Lioran
211km
11:20 – 16:54
July 11
Stage 12
Aurillac – Villeneuve-sur-Lot
203.6km
12:35 – 17:16
July 12
Stage 13
Agen-Pau
165.3km
13:30 – 17:21
July 13
Stage 14
Pau – Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet
151.9km
13:05 – 17:17
July 14
Stage 15
Loudenvielle – Plateau de Beille
197.7km
11:55 – 17:22
15th of July
Rest day 2
Gruissan
Row 16 – Cell 3
Row 16 – Cell 4
16th of July
Stage 16
Gruissan – Nimes
188.6km
13:05 – 17:31
17th July
Stage 17
Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Superdévoluy
177.8km
12:35 – 16:58
July 18
Stage 18
Gap – Barcelona
179.6km
13:00 – 17:30
July 19
Stage 19
Embrun – Isola 2000
144.6km
12:20 – 16:28
20th of July
Stage 20
Nice – Col de la Couillole
132.8km
13:35 – 17:18
21 July
Stage 21
Monaco – Nice
33.7 km (individual time trial)
14:40 – 19:30
Watch cycling live on all streams
If you are outside your home region and need to access your live streaming services to follow the action, your access may be geo-restricted.
This is where a VPN service comes in handy: it allows your computer to pretend it’s at home and you can log into your streaming accounts to catch all the racing action.
Our colleagues at TechRadar We have thoroughly tested several VPN services and can compile the following recommendations.
There are a few other very good options that are safe, reliable and offer good bandwidth for streaming sports. Check out two more top options below – ExpressVPN and the best budget option, Surfshark.
