Eurosport has secured a long term rights deal to continue broadcasting live coverage of the Giro d’Italia until at least 2025.
In an exclusive global deal by Eurosport’s owners Discovery with rights holders RCS Sport, Eurosport will remain the home of cycling’s first Grand Tour of the season for a further five years, maintaining its place as the only broadcaster in the UK to screen every stage of all three of cycling’s premier Grand Tour events.
Eurosport will show live and uninterrupted coverage of every stage of the Giro across its TV and online platforms, as well as via Discovery’s Global Cycling Network (GCN).
In addition, the rights agreement also includes a range of UCI World Tour events and one-day Classics held in Italy, including the Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-Torino, Gran Piemonte, Giro di Sicilia, Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia, as well as the rights to screen the first UCI World Tour event of the 2021 season, the UAE Tour.
Commenting on the new deal, Andrew Georgiou, Eurosport president, said:
“Discovery has a rich heritage of screening the widest range of men’s and women’s cycling events through Eurosport and GCN and is constantly innovating to provide the best viewing experience for passionate cycling fans everywhere.
“We’re pleased to have consolidated our portfolio of world-class cycling rights through a long-term extension with RCS to keep the Giro d’Italia on our channels and platforms for years to come. Through our partnership between Eurosport and GCN, and increasingly in 2021 through discovery+, we will continue to harness our deep cycling expertise and unrivalled global scale to unlock the power of the sport for all to enjoy.”
Eurosport and GCN will continue to showcase world-class cycling throughout 2021 with 300 days of live men’s and women’s events set to be broadcast, including 16 days of action from the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games.
Guy Voisin, director of cycling at Eurosport and GCN, added:
“Eurosport and GCN will deepen our collaboration even further this year and will screen more live cycling than ever before including uninterrupted coverage of every Grand Tour, Classic and Olympic cycling event, and through local digital and linear shows covering all forms of the sport.
“We look forward to kick-starting the 2021 road cycling season through our first-class coverage of the UAE Tour from February, offering more ways than ever for fans to engage with the sport they love.”
Eurosport’s new Giro d’Italia deal follows the broadcaster’s recent announcement that it will continue to show elite UCI global cycling events in 2021, including the UCI Road World Championships and UCI Track World Championships.
For a full list of all forthcoming major cycling events on the box, visit SOTB’s dedicated cycling on TV listings page.
