2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS – The Cycling Grand Tours begin with the Giro d’Italia this Saturday May 4, live and free on SBS and SBS on Demand, kick starting a magnificent cycling season of fierce rivalries, steep climbs and impressive stage wins.
Once a victor has been crowned with the pink jersey for the Giro d’Italia, the cycling Grand Tours continue with the world’s biggest annual sporting event, the Tour de France, setting off from Italy for the first time in history.
Commencing in Florence on June 29, riders will trace a path east across the country before heading back west towards France and into the Alps.
The Tour de France will be followed by the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift which will be held as a standalone event for the first time from August 12.
The Vuelta a España, the third and final Grand Tour of the year will gear up from August 17 finishing off an incredible season of cycling, excitement, and world thrilling sporting events across Europe.
Australia’s Home of Cycling, SBS, will deliver all the action of the cycling Grand Tours and competitive leg shaking stages to Australians with more than 300 hours of live cycling content, and a vast selection of highlights, podcast series and replays.
With spectacular passion and an impressive wealth of experience, the 2024 SBS Cycling commentary team of experts will provide trusted analysis taking viewers along the ride of every stage of the races that capture the attention and eyes of the world.
For the Giro d’Italia Australia’s ‘voice of cycling’ Matthew Keenan will lead the commentary team, joined by former Giro d’Italia stage winner David McKenzie, dual-Australian road national champion Gracie Elvin, internationally renowned sprinter and lead-out specialist Mark Renshaw, along with the first Australian to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours Simon Gerrans, and Australian national time trial champion Dr. Bridie O’Donnell.
For the 2024 Giro d’Italia SBS has also invited guest commentators, former professional Australian road racing cyclists Mitchel Docker and Patrick Shaw to provide their expert analysis and ensure audiences don’t miss any of the action.
SBS Director of Sport, Ken Shipp, said:
“SBS is Australia’s unrivalled destination for cycling. This year with the Grand Tours we are expecting to see some of the biggest talent and fiercest rivalries we’ve seen in decades. The broadcast will be led by incredibly experienced experts who will work alongside our passionate production team to deliver action-packed coverage of the 2024 races. Cycling unites people from across the globe every year for the Grand Tours and we couldn’t be prouder to be Australia’s home of cycling.”
Headlining this year’s Giro d’Italia which gears up Saturday May 4, is a stellar line up of general classification contenders including two-time Tour de France winner, Tadej Pogačar, and fellow Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas.
Contenders also include talented Australian hopefuls Ben O’Connor and Luke Plapp. There will also be plenty of sprinter strength with Australians Sam Welsford and Caleb Ewan to square off against Fabio Jakobsen, Jonathan Milan, Olav Kooij, Juan Sebastian Molano and Gerben Thijssen in the race.
Competitors will race across the steep slopes of the Italian Alps, Dolomites and Apennines with the pink jersey being crowned to the victor on Sunday May 26.
The Giro d’Italia route features two-time trials and six summit finishes, with the highest point in the race, once again being the Stelvio Pass, the highest altitude ever reached by Giro d’Italia riders.
With coverage of every pedal stroke, all 21 stages of the race will be available live in full on SBS On Demand with coverage on SBS Viceland starting later each night. There will also be hour-long highlights shows broadcast on SBS, with catch-up replays, extended highlights and analysis videos throughout the three-week race accessible on SBS On Demand.
After the Giro d’Italia concludes on Sunday May 26 the Tour de France commences Saturday June 29 until Sunday July 21 as the best male cyclists in the world battle it out to secure the yellow jersey.
All 21 stages will be available to stream live and free on SBS and SBS On Demand with the race starting for the very first time in history in Florence, Italy. The best female cyclists will then gear up for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift which commences on Monday August 12 after the 2024 Olympics with some riders planning to head straight back on the bike after competing in the Olympics.
All 8 stages of the race will also be available to stream live and free on SBS Viceland with daily highlights and more on SBS On Demand.
For more information, visit the SBS Sport website: www.sbs.com.au/sport
SBS CYCLING TEAM BIOS
DR BRIDIE O’DONNELL
Dr Bridie O’Donnell graduated from the University of Queensland Medical School. Between 1995 and 2006 she competed in Olympic distance and Ironman triathlon, finishing the Ironman Hawaii World Championships in 2006.
In 2007, she began road cycling and in 2008 after winning the National Time Trial title, she raced in the Australian National Team, and then Professional Italian teams in Europe and the United States, representing Australia at three World Championships between 2008-2012.
From 2013-2017, Bridie managed and raced for Rush Women’s Team in the Cycling Australia National Road Series and in 2016, she broke the UCI Women’s Hour World Record at the Adelaide Superdrome.
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In 2017, she was appointed the inaugural Head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation by the Victorian Government and in 2018, her cycling memoir: “Life and Death” was published, detailing her experiences as a professional cyclist in Europe.
When she’s not commentating cycling, she works in the Community and Public Health Division of the Victorian Department of Health.
MARK RENSHAW
Mark Renshaw is a retired Australian racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2019 for the Française des Jeux, Crédit Agricole, HTC–Highroad, Belkin Pro Cycling, Etixx–Quick-Step and Team Dimension Data teams.
Over his 16-year career, he was most well known as the main lead-out man for fellow sprinter Mark Cavendish, helping him win more than 20 Tour de France stages. His most notable wins are the overall general victory in the 2011 Tour of Qatar, Tour Down Under Stages, Tour of Britain Stages and Tour of Turkey stage victory, and the one-day race Clásica de Almería. He raced in the Tour de France 10 times. In 2004, he also raced in the Olympic Games in Athens on the track cycling points race.
SIMON GERRANS
Simon Gerrans holds the unique position of being the first Australian to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours – the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana. He found competitive cycling as a teenager on the suggestion of Australian cycling legend Phil Anderson, who then lived on a property nearby Gerrans’ parents farm in country Victoria. Anderson, who saw Gerrans cycling as rehabilitation from a serious knee injury after a motor bike racing crash, encouraged him to take up the sport competitively. Simon has been a proud ambassador and active fundraiser of the Chain Reaction Challenge Foundation since 2010 and was the founder of the Victorian Inter-School Cycling Series.
DAVID MCKENZIE
David McKenzie brings nine years’ experience as a professional cyclist to SBS, providing in-depth analysis of the race, the riders and everything viewers need to know about road racing. Starting his career on the track, David made his first appearance for Australia at just 16. He joined his first professional cycling team in 1997 after a stint at the Australian Institute of Sport and in 1998 won the Australian National Road Championship. On the pro-cycling circuit David has competed in Australia and throughout Europe for various teams, winning stages at a number of events including the Giro d’Italia, Tour of Japan and Tour Down Under.
MATTHEW KEENAN
2024 will be Matt’s 18th year commentating on cycling’s biggest event, the Tour de France. After two seasons of amateur racing in Europe, Matt turned to commentary, having since commentated on the Commonwealth Games, Tour of Spain, Paris-Nice, Giro d’Italia and Tour of Qatar. Known for his supreme cycling knowledge and ability to recall detailed information about individual cyclists, Matt is recognised internationally as one of the leading commentators in the business.
GRACIE ELVIN
Gracie is a two-time national road cycling champion. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, has been to two Commonwealth Games, and competed in eight separate world championships in road cycling and mountain biking. Gracie was a member of the GreenEDGE professional team for eight years. She won UCI races in Europe, took second at the Tour of Flanders, and was team captain at many team victories. She was also a co-founder of the first ever international women’s cycling union – The Cyclists’ Alliance – and cares deeply about gender equality and making sure she left the sport in a better place than when she started it.
CHRISTOPHE MALLET
Christophe is a television presenter, podcast host and long-time Executive Producer of SBS Radio’s French program. In 2017 he was awarded a National Order of Merit – he was incredibly honoured to be introduced as a Knight of the Order of Merit in France. Over the course of his 10+ years at SBS, Christophe has been involved in many projects including hosting the Tour de France highlights show, Bonjour le Tour, alongside David McKenzie and has been heavily involved in SBS’s coverage of the Dakar Rally. He’s also been responsible for producing more than 6,000+ radio shows across the SBS network.
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
Media Release – SBS
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
Link to SBS on Demand HERE
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
TV Central Cycling content HERE
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
2024 Cycling Grand Tours on SBS
