How To Watch CX Live

Photo by Mark Thomas

Not going to be in Fayetteville for the cyclo-cross World Championship? How about Hoogerheide for the final World Cup of the season? Not going there either?

But you’re a fan and you want to see the races live (not on YouTube a week later)!

One reliable source to find live broadcasts of bicycle racing in all disciplines is CyclingFans. This website provides start times (including U.S. Time Zone) and links to live television feeds (often multiple).

The usual pay and subscription links are provided, such as GCN, but there are often a number of free streams offered. These are generally top quality broadcasts with rare (if any) commercial interruption, as well as savvy commentary, and immediate interviews. There is a catch: the majority of these links will be geo-restricted. Most European broadcasts are restricted to their country of origin (or close by).

Can you still watch a geo-restricted race? Yes. Using a VPN service, like Hola will give access to most. Some services are free, some limit how much free time is available, some are wonky. We find the Hola paid subscription the best value. In particular if you’re interested in more than just the largest/most famous events.

Of course these broadcasts will be in the language of the provider. Sporza, VTM, NOS will be in Dutch. RAI in Italian, L’Equipe in French, etc. You may be able to land English language commentary on Eurosport or the UCI Channel. While we do speak a modicum of Dutch, we watch racing in a number of languages. Sports talk tends to be sports talk. You’ll understand the context AND it may spark your journey to learning a new language.