How to Watch the Tour de France
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NBC Sports will broadcast the Tour daily through Peacock Premium and offer full livestream coverage for $4.99 a month, with ad-free coverage for an additional $5 a month.
FuboTV also provides access to NBC’s coverage for $65 a month.
The 2022 Tour de France begins on Friday, July 1st with a 13.3km individual time trial through Copenhagen, Denmark. (Yes, Denmark!) So it’s time to start planning how you’re going to watch it.
Whether that means streaming from your phone, starting your morning with the previous day’s highlights, or inviting your friends over for a viewing party, the options for keeping up with the race are plentiful.
For the Fanatics
In general, NBC offers the most accessible and affordable (and legal) options for American viewers through its Peacock Premium streaming service for $4.99 a month. For ad-free coverage you’ll need a subscription to Peacock Premium Plus, which runs $9.99 a month. Eligible Comcast Xfinity X1 and Flex customers and Cox Contour customers may already access Peacock Premium for free.
You could cancel your subscription at the end of the Tour, but consider this: by subscribing to Peacock Premium or Peacock Premium Plus you’ll also have access to the full men’s and women’s Tours as well as other races covered by NBC and its partners, including the 2022 Vuelta a España and next year’s editions of Paris-Nice and Paris-Roubaix.
The Peacock app is available on Roku, Apple devices, Android and AndroidTV devices, Google platforms, Chromecast, Xbox devices, Playstation 4 and 4 Pro, VIZIO SmartCast TVs, and LG Smart TVs. You can also watch online via the Peacock website.
On TV
If you have a good cable package and prefer conventional viewing on your television, you’re in luck: NBC will offer the race to cable subscribers via the USA Network and CNBC . Live coverage often starts around 7 a.m. ET, so 9-to-5ers will likely need to record each stage and watch later. (Check the full schedule for details.)
No Cable? No Problem.
If you don’t have cable and want more than what’s offered on the NBC app, a subscription to FuboTV costs $70 per month. Add the $12 per month cycling package you’ll have full access to NBC’s coverage of the race. Fubo’s also great for those who love cycling year round, as FuboTV has a full-time cycling channel covering the major Tours, the Classics, some World Championships, and even BMX racing. (It’s also available in Canada.) If you’ve been looking for a streaming service that offers most if not all of the channels you enjoy watching, it’s a solid option.
Riders to Watch
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has won the last two Tours and starts this year’s race as the overwhelming favorite. He can do it all: climb, descend, time trial–even the cobblestones of Belgium and Northern France have proven to be no match for the 23-year-old. Assuming he avoids crashes and bad luck during the Tour’s dangerous first week, he should have little trouble taking his third win.
Pogačar’s biggest challenge should come from Jumbo-Visma’s co-captains, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, who finished second to Pogačar in 2020 and 2021, respectively. If they can play to one another’s strengths and avoid worrying about which one is their team’s “true” leader, then they might have a chance to dethrone the two-time defending champ.
The INEOS Grenadiers have won seven of the last ten Tours de France with four different riders–so clearly they know what it takes to win the world’s biggest bike race. But Pogačar’s proven to be a tough nut for the British super team to crack. This year we expect them to count on a mix of both old and new in their bid to reclaim the yellow jersey, with co-captains Geraint Thomas, who won the Tour in 2018, and Daniel Martinez, who’s riding only his third Tour and his first as his team’s protected rider, expected to lead the way.
Other riders to keep an eye on include Australia’s Ben O’Connor, Russia’s Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe), and Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost).
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