Pro cycling is an ecosystem suspended on exposure. The more eyeballs on races, the more attention sponsors receive, and the more funding teams and races enjoy.
The 2026 Spring Classics season begins this Saturday with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, before rolling out to the cobbled classics which stretch across Belgium, the north of France and the Netherlands. For fans in the UK and US, accessing live coverage has never cost more.
In both territories, the collapse of cycling-specific streaming (GCN+ shut down at the end of 2023) has given way to an expensive tri-platform landscape dominated by Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal and FloSports. In several major markets, watching a full Classics campaign now requires multiple paid subscriptions to broad-market sports bundles that happen to include cycling.
The result is a widening gap between countries where the cobbled Classics remain free-to-air, and countries where they sit behind paywalls designed to subsidise Premier League or NBA rights.
What you need, by region
Our streaming inequality graphic on how rights vary from country to country
The picture varies wildly depending on where you live. At time of writing, the primary broadcasters for the 2026 Spring Classics break down as follows:
- United Kingdom: TNT Sports, migrating to HBO Max on March 26
- United States: FloBikes, HBO Max, Peacock (fragmented by race organiser)
- Canada: FloBikes
- Belgium: VRT (Sporza) and RTBF, free-to-air
- France: France Télévisions, free-to-air (selective coverage)
- Italy: RaiPlay, free-to-air
- Spain: RTVE Play, free-to-air
- Australia: SBS On Demand, free-to-air
If you are based in Belgium, Italy or Australia, nothing has materially changed. Public broadcasters continue to carry high-quality live streams at zero cost. The cost is concentrated in the UK, US and Canada.
The UK: £30.99 for a sports add-on
Following the expiration of ITV's long-standing free-to-air rights in 2025, WBD Sports Europe now holds exclusive live broadcast rights for the Spring Classics in the UK. All TNT Sports streaming content moves into HBO Max on March 26, just days after Milan-San Remo.
HBO Max's "Basic with Ads" tier starts at £4.99 per month, but live cycling requires the TNT Sports add-on, priced at £30.99 per month. HBO Max is also available via Sky (including access for some customers under Sky's Basic-with-Ads arrangements) and through Amazon Prime Video channels; Sky also retains linear rights to air new HBO series on its flagship channel.
That is a roughly 450% increase on the £6.99 monthly price point fans paid for Eurosport before its UK axing. A viewer who used to watch key Classics on free-to-air television now faces a recurring monthly bill larger than many phone contracts. Because these races are bundled with Premier League rights, fans are effectively paying for a broad sports package rather than a cycling-specific service.
The US: three subscriptions, one sport
American viewers face a different problem. No single platform carries the full Spring Classics calendar, because rights are split by race organiser.
- FloBikes ($29.99/mo): Flanders Classics events, including the Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- HBO Max ($16.99–$20.99/mo): RCS Sport races, including Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo
- Peacock ($10.99/mo): ASO-owned races, including Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège
The estimated annual cost to legally watch the full WorldTour calendar in the US has risen to approximately $445, up from $350 in 2025. If your Classics season runs from Omloop to Liège, you are looking at two months across all four platforms.
Race-by-race viewing map
Spring Classics by territory
Race | Date | US | UK | Free-to-air option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amstel Gold Race | ||||
| Gent-Wevelgem | ||||
| Liège-Bastogne-Liège | ||||
| Milan-San Remo | ||||
| Omloop Het Nieuwsblad | ||||
| Paris-Roubaix | ||||
| Strade Bianche | ||||
| Tour of Flanders |
Why it keeps getting more expensive
The cost inflation is structural rather than incidental. Warner Bros. Discovery has progressively moved cycling from a standalone app (GCN+) to a general sports platform (Discovery+/TNT Sports) and now into a prestige entertainment app (HBO Max).
Each migration bundles cycling fans into a larger subscriber base that cross-subsidises premium sports rights.
At the same time, WBD and rivals have wound down introductory "free" promotional tiers that once gave sports viewers temporary access. Cycling content has been stripped from cheaper ad-supported plans, pushing fans into higher-priced monthly commitments. Late-settled rights deals, particularly for RCS Sport properties like Milan-San Remo, have also allowed platforms to demand exclusivity premiums once agreements are finally locked in.
The consequence is that cycling, a sport whose fanbase skews modest in size compared to football or basketball, is being priced as though it were a headliner.
How to spend less
The most practical approach for 2026 is a month-by-month subscription strategy rather than annual commitments.
In March, an HBO Max subscription covers Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo. In April, FloBikes and Peacock between them cover the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Subscribe at the start of each month, cancel before renewal. Two months of targeted spending in the US comes to roughly $90 rather than $445 across a full year.
UK fans have fewer levers to pull, given that all races sit behind the same TNT Sports add-on. But the same logic applies: subscribe for March and April, cancel in May.
One final note. Before committing to any platform, verify the specific race-day schedule close to the event. Rights have shifted late in recent off-seasons, and what was confirmed in February has occasionally changed by race week.
Cover image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
