What are Americans using to watch the race season?
 

Flobikes.com

NBC Sports Gold

a VPN

something else?


I could not find a price for the season through end of Vuelta España (Nov8) on either Flobikes (plans starting at $13/mo) or NBC Sports Gold.

VPN pricing is probably cheapest. But where to view the races?

I'm thinking flobikes.

Ive used NBCSG Cycling Pass for the last few years and it's pretty good for the subscription price which I think is around $60/year.
I have no idea whether there is any difference to the service / offerings / schedules / prices considering all the changes in this year's racing season.

Cycling Pass typically features the Vuelta and the Tour but not the Giro.
It typically features several spring classics but not all of them.
I think maybe NBC's rights deal is primarily with ASO, and therefore they feature most races operated by the ASO . . . just my guess.
Cycling Pass also has a good dose of cyclocross and track stuff this past year that was not featured in the previous years I've subscribed.

I'm suddenly interested in the options too since CyclingTips is offering a $99 deal that bundles their annual membership along with Strava premium, and one of their club benefits is 20% off FloBikes.

Also GCN now has a new subscription product launched recently, I can't recall the pricing of the US-based viewing but I think maybe it was around $100/yr.
The races it includes were pretty obscure to the mainstream American viewer . . . I'm sure there's good racing in there but there are not many of the better-known races.

NBC Sports Gold

Has the 2020 cycling season re-started for tours and grand tours? I'll worry when it happens.

NBC Sports with a cycling pass has been the cheaper option for me in the past.

Currently, I use both FloBikes and NBCGold and enjoy them both. Some pros/cons, YMMV:

FloBikes (between $130-$150/yr):
PROS: Tons of cycling; almost too much to watch at times. Lots of cyclocross and track cycling in the fall/winter, Belgian classics (including some less well-known races), the Giro, most Worldtour races (except ASO). English commentary is good (often Rob Hatch/Rob Hayles). App is easy to use across multiple platforms (I view on my IPhone and utilize Amazon Firestick to watch at home). Lots of race replays to watch. Reasonable price for all the coverage. They have some interesting/intriguing behind the scenes type documentaries.
CONS: Cyclocross commentary is sometimes lacking, but has improved greatly this year (now have native English commentary; usually Anthony McCrossen or FloBikes commentary out of Austin, TX). So, you may be watching an odd race with no commentary. I've experienced some issues with audio/video syncing but not often and probably a result of the feed they are receiving.

NBC Gold (~$60/yr):
PROS: TdF and Vuelta (my favorite GT). Also have Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and other ASO races. Decent track program and major cyclocross races. Good commentary; either Phil Liggett and his lackeys (I'm not a fan of CVV, Bob Roll or Chris Horner; they are all annoying IMO) on the "commercial" feed or Matthew Keenan/Robbie McEwen on the "ad-free feed".
CONS: The commercials on the "main/commercial" feed are becoming a distraction to the point of really disrupting the flow of the broadcast. Fortunately, the ad-free feed is fantastic and MK/RM have great rapport. Only get ASO races and major track/cyclocross races. Huge gaps between these events where there is no coverage.

If I had to pick only one, it would be FloBikes due to more races/content to watch. But, currently I'm happy using both and justify the expense because in a typical cycling season I have at least a couple of races to watch each week.

Thanks for this rundown.
I agree with just about all your analysis of NBCSG and I appreciate the breakdown on FloBikes, I'm going to look closer to see if I should add it.

Does anyone know if FloBikes offers a 3 month subscription instead of the annual $100+?


I'm not interested in cyclocross. And the Southern Hemisphere races are something I can skip watching during ski season.

I thought FloBikes was cancel anytime with no commitment for initial time period. But it was quite awhile since looking at them. NBC Gold, now just NBC Sports (I think) had most of the things I wanted to see.

It looks like FloBikes is a yearly only subscription, and $150 before any discounts. That's too bad because they have the Giro and most of the monuments, but it's steeper than I care for, seeing how with the timezone difference I probably catch at most the last hour of any race I watch.

I agree. But, as noted by @wv_mtnbkr , there are numerous race replays. And I am a retired guy who rises early and could use the motivation to get in more miles.

I don't mind paying for content, but I appreciate paying for only the content I wish to see. In this case, Aug 1st StradaBianca thru Nov 8th VueltaEspaña. And if they offered a 3 month package (Aug/sep/Oct) that's good too, as I could give-up the last week of the Vuelta. I guess one could argue that a FloBikes annual subscription gets me through July2021 so it includes all the Spring events and Classics, GdI and TdF next year.

So I think I've made the decision for FloBikes. Thanks all for your great information/insight.

I usually use Fubo from March thru the Giro then I watch the TdF on NBCSN. Fubo costs me about $150 , which is steep for three months but they show a lot of races and you can DVR them.
Not sure about this year because of all the rescheduling but here’s the apparent schedule....

https://www.fubo.tv/lp/cycling-pass/

The GCN Cycling Pass looks like at great deal at introductory price of $39.99/year, but they have very little content if streamed in the US. In Europe, however, they offer pretty much all the races. I wonder whether I could subscribe with an account in the US but use a VPN to access the European content.

They are showing basically everything...

All three GT, all stage races in Italy coming up, Giro rosa, Criterium du Dauphine which will have a super line up given it is THE prep race now for the Tour. It is on offer right now for £20/year...absolute bargain.

Only reason I am not getting it is because of my internet bundle I get TV with it including all Eurosport channels which shows basically everything. Although I might get it anyway just for being able to watch anywhere on my phone.

I was wondering this as well. That seems like the go to option, unless when you sign up, you have to pick a region.

Just check carefully for which races GCN will show in your viewing region.
I looked closely at GCN's subscription when it was announced, and gathered they would feature only the races for which the US broadcast rights were not already taken by another carrier.

I don't think GCN will be showing any Grand Tours nor the Dauphine to viewers based in the US.
The site lists these races below as the races available live to US based viewers --Check out our full schedule of live racing for 2020 below.

Live races in August

• 08/05/20-08/09/20: Tour de Pologne
• 08/07/20-08/09/20: Tour de l'Ain
• 08/18/20-08/19/20: Tour de l’Avenir Stages 5 & 6
• 08/25/20: Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France
• 08/26/20: GP de Plouay - Lorient Agglomération Trophée WNT

Live races in September

• 09/12/20: 80° Eurométropole Tour
• 09/15/20-09/19/20: Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg
• 09/16/20: Grand Prix de Wallonie
• 09/26/2020: Ethias Rapencross
• 09/29/20-10/3/20: BinckBank Tour

Live races in October

• 09/29/20-10/3/20: BinckBank Tour
• 10/06/20: Binche - Chimay - Binche / Mémorial Frank Vandenbroucke
• 10/10/ 2020: Ethias Polderscross
• 10/11/20: Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields Womens
• 10/17/2020: Ethias b-minecross
• 10/18/20: Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres Womens
• 10/20/20: AG Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne Womens
• 10/21/20: AG Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne
• 10/31/20: Koppenbergcross

Live races in November

• 1/14/20: Ethias Leuven
• 11/28/20: Trofee Veldrijden Kortrijk

Live races in December

• 12/12/2020: Trofee Veldrijden Scheldecross
• 12/22/2020: Ethias Essen
• 12/23/2020: Kasteelcross
• 12/29/20: Azencross

Interesting that the rights are so different, maybe it costs too much to show in the US.

GCN would be great but the US coverage is terrible IMO, NBCgold again for me I guess.

Also, GCN has just launched their subscription product, and the US tv rights for the better - recognized races are already contracted to other broadcasters.
NBC shows the races operated by ASO (not sure they show all ASO races, but enough of them). FloBikes has rights to the Giro and some of the Classics.
GCN will have to wait for those deals to expire, then bid for those rights if they want to distribute those races to American tv audiences.
Meanwhile, what remains for GCN to show American viewers are some of the smaller races, those less popular with the US audience.

In Europe, GCN probably enjoys a better scenario for what they can show . . . because GCN and Eurosport have the same parent company, and Eurosport has some heavy rights to show races around most of Europe.
GCN probably has access to whatever races Eurosport already broadcasts to most of Europe. I'm not certain, but I think Eurosport shows the ASO races around most of Europe (probably not in France, but most other countries).
So GCN can offer its subscribers in Europe a much better slate of races / programming than it can offer its subscribers in the US . . . for now, anyway . . . maybe that will change when the US rights come due for new deals.

Right. Which why, above, we were speculating about using a VPN service to access the races GCN Makes available in Europe.

It has the same parent company as Eurosport? How small the world is...

Well the Vuelta a Burgos starts tomorrow with some very heavy hitters in the startlist, then Strade Bianche on Saturday, so I opened up my wallet for a FloBikes subscription. Steep but I can definitely use the entertainment.

I’m thinking of going with them too. Do you know if the races can be recorded?

Thank you.