The Pure Drama of the Cycling Grand Tours Continues on SBS Australia’s Home of Cycling – As Australia’s Home of Cycling, SBS will once again broadcast all three of the Cycling Grand Tours – the 2025 Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and La Vuelta, as well as the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift – live and free on SBS, SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand,
SBS’ exclusive rolling coverage of these prestigious international sporting events gets underway this Friday May 9 with the Giro d’Italia, followed by the Tour De France from July 5, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift from July 26, and the Vuelta a España, from 23 August.
With more than 300 hours of live cycling content, SBS will deliver all the action from the cycling Grand Tours, as well as giving viewers catch-up replays, short and extended highlights via SBS On Demand, and a podcast offering. The 2025 SBS Cycling commentary team will bring viewers trusted analysis and expert commentary from every stage of each momentous race, drawn from a wealth of experience. Taking viewers inside the peloton of every stage of the Giro d’Italia will be Australia’s ‘voice of cycling’ Matthew Keenan. He will be joined by former Giro stage winner David McKenzie, dual-Australian road national champion Gracie Elvin, former professional Australian road racing cyclists Mitch Docker and Matilda Raynolds, and the first Australian to have won a stage in all three Grand Tours, Simon Gerrans.
Rounding out the SBS Cycling commentary team in time for the Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and the Vuelta will be Dr Bridie O’Donnell, Christophe Mallet, and recently retired Australian Olympic and World champion Grace Brown. With the finest minds in the commentary box and exclusive access to Australian riders, SBS will give cycling fans a front row seat to all the action from the world’s greatest cycling events.
SBS Director of Sport, Ken Shipp, said:
“SBS is proud to remain Australia’s undisputed Home of Cycling. The 2025 Grand Tours promise some of the most electrifying competition and compelling rivalries we’ve seen in years, and our expert team is primed to bring every moment to life. Few sports spark a shared passion like cycling – and at SBS, we’re proud to bring Australians together through every moment of the Grand Tours.”
Giro d’Italia reigning champion Tadej Pogacar has confirmed he will not be defending his title when the Giro gets underway this Friday May 9, so a new winner will wear the maglia rosa, the pink jersey, in 2025. A stellar line-up of general classification contenders will headline the Italian Grand Tour as it traverses the notoriously steep slopes of the Alps, Dolomites and Apennines, with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s two-pronged attack of previous Giro d’Italia champions Primoz Roglic and Australian Jai Hindley set to feature in May.
2019 maglia rosa winner Richard Carapaz, and fellow GC hopefuls Adam Yates and Juan Ayuso are also tipped to take to the start line, while Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen and Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year, Tom Pidcock are among the other big names set to ride the roads of Italy. Aside from Hindley, eight-time Grand Tour stage winner Kaden Groves, as well as Jay Vine, Luke Plapp and Chris Harper are the other Aussies in the mix for positions on the start line.
This year, the Giro route features two time trials, four flat, and seven mountain stages after its start in Albania – with tough climbs in the south of Italy and the steep San Pellegrino in Alpe in the Tuscan Apennines. Stage 15 will include the dreaded Montegrappa climb, Stage 16 includes five climbs to the west of Lake Garda, while Stage 17 finishes in Bormio after climbing the Mortirolo (12.6km with an average gradient of 7.6%).The winner of the maglia rosa will be decided in the Alps, with over 9,000 metres of climbing packed into two days. Stage 19 features four major climbs over 166km, before Stage 20 climbs the mighty Colle delle Finestre, where Chris Froome attacked solo to snatch victory from Tom Dumoulin in 2018.
Mythical by nature, the Giro is purely cycling, refined and raw.
All 21 stages of the Giro d’Italia will be shown LIVE on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand. There will also be a daily hour-long highlights broadcast on SBS from 7am and 5pm on weekdays, 7am and 4.30pm on weekends (all AEST).
The Cycling Grand Tours continue from July 5 when the Tour de France, theultimate challenge for male cyclists and the biggest race of cycling season, sets off from Lille. For the first time since the 2020 edition, all racing this year will take place entirely in France, culminating in the final stage on the Champs-Elysees on July 27.
Hot on the wheels of the Tour de France is the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift from July 26 until August 3. As the Tour de France finishes in Paris, the women’s departure will have already taken place the day prior in Vannes. SBS will be continuing the high broadcast standards of race coverage in 2025, with every stage of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes live in full on SBS and SBS On Demand.
The Vuelta a España, the third and final Grand Tour of the 2025 men’s road cycling season, will take place in Italy, France and Spain in 2025. It will cover a total distance of 3,151 kilometres from 23 August to 14 September, starting in Turin, and finishing in Madrid, and will be shown live on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
SBS CYCLING COMMENTARY TEAM BIOS
MATTHEW KEENAN
2025 will be Matt’s 19th year commentating on cycling’s biggest event, the Tour de France, where he has worked alongside some of the greats of the sport, including Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen, Bridie O’Donnell and Simon Gerrans. Known for his supreme cycling knowledge, somewhat of a cycling nerd, Matt is recognised internationally as one of cycling’s leading commentators.
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. 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.
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 18 years of Tour de France coverage and expert race analysis to SBS, backed by a decade as an elite and professional cyclist. Starting on the track, he represented Australia internationally at just 16, later earning a place at the Australian Institute of Sport. Turning professional in 1997, David raced for teams across Australia and Europe, claiming victories on four continents, including a stage win at the Giro d’Italia, as well as triumphs at the Tour of Japan and the Tour Down Under. In 1998, he secured the Australian National Road Championship title. David’s deep experience on the bike and behind the microphone provides viewers with unparalleled insights into the world of road cycling.
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, long-time Executive Producer of SBS Radio’s French program, and host of the award-winning SBS Cycling Podcast which he hosts with David McKenzie and Grace Brown. Recently celebrating 500 episodes, the podcast won the Australian Sports Podcast of the Year award in 2019. In 2017 he was awarded a National Order of Merit and 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. He is heavily involved in SBS’s coverage of the Dakar Rally where he was on the ground for this year’s event in a first for SBS, and he has also been responsible for producing more than 6,000+ radio shows across the SBS network.
MITCH DOCKER
Mitch Docker is a former World Tour cyclist, podcast host and cycling media producer, who has become a prominent voice in global cycling media. Over a 13-year professional career, Mitch raced for elite teams including Skil-Shimano, Orica-GreenEDGE, and EF Education First, competing in nine Grand Tours and more than 20 Classics. Known for his versatility and team-first approach, he developed a particular love for the cobbled Classics, where grit, endurance, and tactical skill take centre stage. Since retiring from racing in 2021, Mitch has expanded Life in the Peloton podcast into a full content platform, and he is the founder of Dirty Docker, a grassroots cycling and running festival held in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.
MATILDA RAYNOLDS
Matilda Raynolds came to cycling later than most but quickly made her mark, showing considerable strength on the Australian scene and internationally. In 2019, she finished third behind WorldTour riders on the opening stage of the Tour Down Under. Raynolds has multiple National Road Series victories to her name and is a two-time winner of the women’s category at the brutal 267km Melbourne to Warrnambool. In 2023, she started her season with a stage win at the Bay Crits, Australia’s summer racing opener. She has raced for Australia’s Team BridgeLane and for European squads Keukens Redant and Restore, and in 2021, she took the overall win at the prestigious Tour of America’s Dairyland series in Wisconsin, USA, Over the past few years, she has balanced road racing with racing on gravel around the world at some of the biggest events like Unbound in the USA and Traka in Spain.
GRACE BROWN
Grace Brown OAM is Australia’s most successful female road cyclist. She recently retired from the sport as Olympic and World Champion in the Individual time trial. Brown’s rise to the top of professional cycling began in 2019 when she signed with Mitchelton-Scott, winning the National Time Trial Championship and a stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in her first season. In 2020, she had a breakthrough year, securing a World Tour podium at Liège–Bastogne–Liège and claiming victory at Brabantse Pijl. At the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, she finished fourth in the Individual Time Trial, just shy of the podium. In 2022, she moved to FDJ-SUEZ, where she continued to build an impressive palmarès. She won Commonwealth Games gold, earned two silver medals at the World Championships ITT, and dominated the National ITT Championships for multiple years. In 2024, she reached the pinnacle of her career, winning Olympic gold in Paris, becoming World Champion in the Individual Time Trial, and claiming victory in the prestigious Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Brown is now part of the SBS commentary and podcast team, and president of the board of The Cyclists’ Alliance.
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The Pure Drama of the Cycling Grand Tours Continues on SBS Australia’s Home of Cycling
