Dutch broadcaster NOS will cut its live cycling coverage by around 40% from 2026, reducing its calendar from roughly 75 to 45 race days as part of wide‑ranging savings enforced on Dutch public broadcaster NPO. The move sharply limits free‑to‑air access for Dutch cycling fans and opens the door to pay‑TV exclusivity for several key races.
Figures reported by WielerFlits and confirmed by NOS cycling coordinator Stef Clement outline the new schedule, which will no longer include live coverage of the Vuelta a España, Paris–Nice, La Flèche Wallonne or the Critérium du Dauphiné. What remains is expected to focus on a small core of Spring classics, the Tour de France and the World Championships.
The cuts follow an NPO (Dutch public broadcaster Nederlandse Publieke Omroep) programming reduction of more than €20 million for 2026, a first step towards a structural annual budget cut of around €156 million from 2027. Cycling has been one of the first major sports properties to feel the impact.
Clement has been frank about the pressure on NOS Sport as it tries to stretch a smaller budget across more disciplines. “Our position is of course rather difficult,” he told WielerFlits earlier in the summer, explaining that football, speed skating and cycling have traditionally been the broadcaster’s “mainstays”, yet the public‑service remit also demands a more diverse sports offer. “It’s a reallocation of reduced budget to other areas. That results in this diminished cycling offering.”
From public service to pay TV?
The decision effectively hands greater leverage to pay‑TV and streaming platforms in the Dutch market. Many of the dropped races are organised by ASO and sit within a rights framework that already gives Eurosport and Warner Bros Discovery long‑term Dutch access. With NOS stepping back, those channels are now positioned to become the primary, and potentially exclusive, live outlet for the Vuelta and the affected WorldTour stage races.
For viewers, the change is significant. The Dutch Grand Départ of the 2022 Vuelta drew millions of NOS viewers across the first weekend, illustrating the reach that free‑to‑air coverage offers teams, sponsors and organisers. From 2026, that mass casual audience will be much harder to access on television, especially for fans unwilling or unable to pay for dedicated sports subscriptions.
Cycling is not alone in feeling the squeeze. NOS Sport editor‑in‑chief Xander van der Wulp has warned publicly that the same budgetary shock now threatens the broadcaster’s rights to Eredivisie (the Dutch Premier League) highlights and major speed skating events, with both contracts expiring in the 2025–26 window. “With cuts this severe and this fast, this is what’s at stake,” he said of the football package, adding that skating is “also at stake” as its deal comes up for renewal.
The 75‑to‑45 day cut is therefore both a direct blow to cycling fans and a signal of a broader reshaping of Dutch sports broadcasting.
