Finding a way to watch the entire Tour de France got a lot more complicated for UK fans this year. After more than two decades on ITV, the race has moved behind a paywall, and if you’re still looking for it on ITV4 or ITVX, you’ll be searching in the wrong place.
The good news is there’s still more than one way to watch, some of it completely free.
This year’s race, the 113th edition, is already underway, starting with a team time trial in Barcelona on 4th July and finishing in Paris on 26th July.
We’ll walk you through exactly how to catch every stage, including the ones that are genuinely free, and how to unblock Australia’s free SBS stream from anywhere using a VPN.
Why isn’t the Tour de France free on ITV anymore?
ITV broadcast the Tour de France every year since 2001, but that ended after the 2025 race. Warner Bros Discovery now holds exclusive UK rights through at least 2030, and full live coverage sits with TNT Sports and HBO Max, both paid services.
It isn’t all bad news though. Channel 5 is showing free daily highlights throughout the race, and the Welsh broadcaster S4C has picked up seven stages live and completely free, sublicensed from TNT Sports. Crucially, those S4C stages are also available on BBC iPlayer, UK-wide, not just in Wales.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | 4th to 26th July 2026 |
| Edition | 113th Tour de France |
| Route | Barcelona to Paris, 21 stages, 3,333km |
| UK full coverage | TNT Sports / HBO Max (paid, from £25.99/month) |
| UK free highlights | Channel 5, daily |
| UK free live stages | S4C and BBC iPlayer, stages 1, 2, 3, 18, 19, 20 and 21 |
How to watch the Tour de France in the UK
There are three genuine routes into this year’s race from the UK, and which one suits you depends on how much of it you want to see.
TNT Sports / HBO Max is the only way to watch every single stage live, start to finish. It’s also available through Sky, EE and Virgin Media if you’d rather not take out a separate streaming subscription.
Channel 5 runs a free daily highlights show, which is the easiest no-cost way to keep up with the story of the race without watching four or five hours of live racing every day.
S4C, and BBC iPlayer, carry seven stages completely live and free: the Barcelona team time trial and opening weekend (stages 1 to 3), and the entire decisive final weekend (stages 18 to 21), including both Alpe d’Huez summit finishes and the Paris finale.
Still to come, free on S4C and BBC iPlayer: stage 18 (23rd July, Orcières-Merlette), stage 19 (24th July, Alpe d’Huez), stage 20 (25th July, the queen stage and Alpe d’Huez again), and stage 21 (26th July, the Paris finale). If you only watch four more stages this year, these are the ones worth clearing your evening for.
Fastest for streaming abroad
Surfshark tested fastest in our own UK speed checks this year, ideal if you want to keep watching BBC iPlayer or your TNT Sports subscription while travelling.
30-day money-back guarantee
How to watch the Tour de France free from anywhere with a VPN
If you’re outside the UK, or you don’t have access to a subscription service there’s a genuinely free route into full, start-to-finish coverage of every stage: SBS On Demand in Australia.
SBS holds free-to-air rights to the entire race and streams every stage live, with only a free account and an Australian postcode needed to watch. Because SBS checks your location, you’ll need to connect to an Australian server through a VPN to unlock it from the UK or anywhere else.
We ran our own June 2026 speed tests on all four VPNs we recommend, specifically checking how they hold up connecting to Australia, since that’s what determines whether SBS actually plays smoothly or buffers through Pogačar’s next attack.
Based on that, if unblocking SBS is your main goal, Surfshark and NordVPN are the two to choose between, with barely 4 Mbps separating them at Australian distance.
We’d lean towards Surfshark since it also tested fastest for UK connections in the same batch of tests, useful if you’ll also be using it to catch BBC iPlayer or TNT Sports.
If you think you’ll also want to unblock a French or American service at some point, NordVPN is the stronger all-rounder, since Surfshark’s France speeds dropped off sharply in our tests.
1
Surfshark
Fastest for SBS
2
NordVPN
Best all-rounder if you need more than Australia
3
CyberGhost
Strong in Europe, solid budget option
Step-by-step: watch the Tour de France free on SBS
1. Sign up for a VPN
Choose Surfshark or NordVPN for the best Australian speeds, then create your account and install the app.
2. Connect to an Australian server
Open the app, find the country list, and connect to any server in Australia.
Connect to Australia with ExpressVPN to watch free on SBS On Demand.
3. Create a free SBS On Demand account
Head to SBS On Demand and register, you’ll just need an email address and an Australian postcode, which SBS’s own help pages provide examples of.
4. Find the Tour de France and watch live
Every stage streams live and in full, with replays usually available within a couple of hours of the finish if you miss the live broadcast.
Recommended for SBS
Surfshark held the fastest Australian speeds in our June 2026 tests, comfortably enough for smooth HD streaming.
30-day money-back guarantee
Other free countries you can unblock
Australia isn’t the only place showing the Tour de France for free. Connecting to a server in any of the following will also unlock full, live, free coverage: France (France Télévisions), Spain (RTVE), Italy (RAI), Netherlands (NOS), and Belgium (RTBF/VRT).
Commentary will be in the local language rather than English, which is the main reason most UK viewers still lean towards SBS or their existing UK subscription.
Already pay for TNT Sports or HBO Max? Here’s how to keep watching abroad
If you already have a TNT Sports or HBO Max subscription, you don’t need SBS at all, you just need your VPN to make it look like you’re still in the UK while you’re travelling.
The process is identical: connect to a UK server instead of an Australian one, then log in and stream as normal. This also works for BBC iPlayer if you want to catch the free S4C stages while abroad.
Full stage schedule for the rest of the 2026 Tour
| Stage | Date | Route | Terrain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4th July | Barcelona to Barcelona (19.6km) | Team time trial · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
| 2 | 5th July | Tarragona to Barcelona (168.5km) | Hilly · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
| 3 | 6th July | Granollers to Les Angles (195.9km) | Mountain · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
| 4 | 7th July | Carcassonne to Foix (181.9km) | Hilly |
| 5 | 8th July | Lannemezan to Pau (158.3km) | Flat, sprint finish |
| 6 | 9th July | Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre (186.2km) | Mountain, Tourmalet, new summit finish |
| 7 | 10th July | Route tbc | Sprint opportunity |
| 8 | 11th July | Bordeaux to Bergerac | Flat, sprint finish |
| 9 | 12th July | Finishes in Ussel | Rolling, into the Massif Central |
| Rest day, 13th July | |||
| 10 | 14th July | Massif Central | Mountain, seven categorised climbs |
| 11 | 15th July | Route tbc | Details tbc |
| 12 | 16th July | Route tbc | Details tbc |
| 13 | 17th July | Dole to Belfort (205.8km) | Longest stage of the race, rolling Jura terrain |
| 14 | 18th July | Mulhouse to Le Markstein | Mountain, Vosges |
| 15 | 19th July | Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison (184km) | Mountain, new summit finish |
| Rest day, 20th July | |||
| 16 | 21st July | Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains (26km) | Individual time trial |
| 17 | 22nd July | Route tbc | Sprinters’ last chance before the Alps |
| 18 | 23rd July | Finishes at Orcières-Merlette | Mountain · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
| 19 | 24th July | Finishes on Alpe d’Huez (13.8km at 8.1%) | Mountain · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
| 20 | 25th July | Galibier, Col de Sarenne, Alpe d’Huez again | Queen stage · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
| 21 | 26th July | Paris, via Montmartre | Sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées · Free on S4C/iPlayer |
Don’t miss the finale
Get set up now so you’re ready for the Alpe d’Huez double and the Paris finale.
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Who to watch for in the 2026 Tour de France
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is chasing a fifth Tour title and arrives as the clear favourite after a dominant season.
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is the rider most likely to challenge him, arriving fresh off a Giro d’Italia win.
- Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz share leadership at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, with Lipowitz building on last year’s white jersey.
- Paul Seixas, just 19, is one of the most closely watched wildcards in the race for Decathlon CMA CGM.
- Tom Pidcock returns to a route that includes his old stomping ground, Alpe d’Huez, where he won in 2022.
Ready to watch?
Surfshark unblocks SBS Australia’s free Tour de France stream
- ✓ Fastest Australian speeds in our June 2026 tests
- ✓ Also unblocks BBC iPlayer for the free S4C stages
- ✓ Works on Fire Stick, Smart TVs, mobile and more
- ✓ Unlimited simultaneous device connections
30-day money-back guarantee
ITV’s rights ran out after the 2025 race. Warner Bros Discovery now holds exclusive UK rights through at least 2030, with full coverage on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
Yes, in two ways. Channel 5 shows free daily highlights, and S4C, also available on BBC iPlayer, shows seven stages completely live and free: the Barcelona opener, the first weekend, and the entire final weekend from Orcieres-Merlette through to Paris.
Yes. Using a VPN to access a legitimate, free streaming service like SBS On Demand, or to access a subscription you already pay for while travelling, is legal. We don’t recommend using a VPN to access pirated or unofficial streams.
In our June 2026 tests, Surfshark and NordVPN were the fastest options for connecting to Australia, both comfortably quick enough for HD streaming without buffering. ExpressVPN was noticeably the slowest of the four VPNs we tested on this route.
