The first big cycling tour of the year takes place from May 4 to 26 on the roads, plains and mountains of Italy. The 176 participants will compete in 21 stages for a total distance of around 3,400km.
Tadej Pogacar is the favorite and will aim for the title for his first participation in the 2024 Tour of Italy. Geraint Thomas, Romain Bardet, Ben O’Connor, Cian Uijtdebroeks and even Damiano Caruso and Thymen Arensman will try to compete with the Slovenian.
According to list of free broadcasters for the Giro 2024 (complete tutorial), we notice that several foreign channels allow you to watch the Giro in free streaming. While in France, the broadcast of the Tour of Italy 2024 is exclusively reserved for the paying public, this is not the case in Switzerland and Italy where the 21 stages are broadcast unencrypted on local channels.
4 free channels where you can watch the Giro in streaming:
Indeed, the Swiss broadcaster RTS will broadcast, as every year, the entire Giro live free and in French, from its channels RTS Sport and RTS 2. Same thing on the Italian channels Rai 2 and Rai Sport, the live of which is accessible in the next board.
Being foreign channels, a geo-block will prevent you from accessing live by default. The use of a compatible VPN is necessary to access these channels from France.
Softwares Cyberghost (45 day trial) and NordVPN (30 day trial) are best suited to watching the Giro on Swiss and Italian channels. They each have a 100% refundable trial period, without conditions.
How to watch the Giro on RTS or Rai?
Once on the channel of your choice, you will probably be confronted with an error message when trying to access the live stream. On RTS for example, the player indicates:
To avoid this blockage, simply simulate your presence in Switzerland using the appropriate VPN. Here are the steps to follow.
Quick tutorial:
We now notice that we have access to the Giro live on RTS thanks to Cyberghost. It will be the same during the broadcast of the 21 stages of the Tour of Italy 2024. The principle is the same for the Italian channels Rai 2 and Rai Sport, this time geolocating in Italy. You will find a more detailed tutorial linked below.
Watch All Cycling Live Free:
Very popular with cycling enthusiasts, this method, which is both reliable and economical, allows you to watch most of the races not broadcast unencrypted on French TV for free, thanks to foreign channels. This is the case of the Giro as mentioned above, but also of many other races and classics.
We already had listed events and associated free broadcasters in a dedicated article. We saw that in Switzerland, Italy or Belgium, most races are offered unencrypted on television. Among the upcoming races, we know for example that the Vuelta will be broadcast free of charge on the Belgian channel RTBF, just like the Tour of Lombardy, the Classic of San Sebastian as well as the Tour of Belgium for example.
The stages of the Tour of Italy 2024:
The Tour of Italy 2024 offers us a demanding route of 3,400 km through the Italian regions, starting from Venaria Reale for a final arrival in Rome after 44,650m of cumulative elevation gain.
The climbers will be at the forefront with 6 summit finishes including the formidable Prati di Tivo (stage 8), Livigno (stage 15), Passo Sella and Passo Brocon during the queen stage (stage 17), and the double ascent final of Monte Grappa (stage 20). The general classification will also be decided on the two individual time trials in Foligno/Perugia (stage 7) and during stage 14. Without forgetting the tricky hilly stages. A complete course which promises to exalt all the qualities of the best climbers and riders in the peloton.
- Step 1 : Venaria Realm – Turin (hilly)
- 2nd step : San Francesco al Campo – Sacred Mount of Oropa (medium mountain)
- Step 3: Novara – Fossano (plain)
- Step 4: Acqui Terme – Andora (plain)
- Step 5: Genoa – Luscca (hilly)
- Step 6: Viareggio – Rapolano Terme (hilly)
- Step 7: Foligno – Perugia (time trial)
- Step 8: Spoleto – Prati di Tivo (mountain)
- Step 9: Avezano – Naples (plain)
- Step 10: Pompeii – Cusano Mutri (mountain)
- Step 11: Foiano di Val Fortore – Francavilla al Mare (plain)
- Step 12: Martinsicuro – Fano (hilly)
- Step 13: Riccione – Cento (plain)
- Step 14: Castiglione delle Stiviere – Desenzano del Garda (time trial)
- Step 15: Manerba del Garda – Livigno (mountain)
- Step 16: Livigno – Santa di Val Gardena (mountain)
- Step 17: Selva di Val Gardena – Passo Brocon (mountain)
- Step 18: Fiera di Primiero – Padua (plain)
- Step 19: Mortegliano – Sappada (medium assembly)
- Step 20: Alpago – Bassano del Grappa (mountain)
- Step 21: Rome – Rome (plain)
Overview, participants and favorites at the Giro 2024:
The Tour of Italy 2024 will open the grand tour ball, with a start on May 4 in Venaria Reale for a final arrival in Rome on May 26 after 21 stages. 176 participants divided into 22 teams will set off on the Italian roads for this 107th edition of the Giro.
In the absence of defending champion Primoz Roglic, who is focusing on the Tour de France, all eyes will be on his fellow Slovenian, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). At 25, the double winner of the Tour de France will make his big debut on the roads of the Giro with the ambition of winning a first title.
If Pogacar is a huge favorite, he will have to remain vigilant in the face of high-end competition despite some notable absences. Frenchman Romain Bardet (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) will try to land his first grand tour at 33 years old. Briton Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France, is also putting the Giro back on the program after his 2nd place last year. Among the other contenders for the pink jersey, we will follow in particular Thymen Arensman, Ben O’Connor, Damiano Caruso, Dani Martinez, and Cian Uijtdebroeks.
As for the sprinters, the British Jonathan Milan will try to retain his title in the points classification. But the competition promises to be formidable with the Dutch Olav Kooij and Tim Merlier. The French Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Julian Alaphilippe and Christophe Laporte will try to shine on the flat stages.
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