Warner Bros. Discovery today launched its season of cycling with sports fans promised a bumper year of world-class two-wheeled action from all four corners of the globe. From track cycling to road cycling and mountain biking to cyclo-cross, Warner Bros. Discovery is the only destination to follow the cycling season all-year round as the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard prepare for their assaults on the Grand Tours while superstars Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert go toe-to-toe in a series of epic battles throughout the season.

Hosted by Orla Chennaoui and Kate Mason at the award-winning mixed-reality Cube studio in London, it was announced at Warner Bros. Discovery's cycling season launch that fans will be able to enjoy an unprecedented volume of live cycling coverage and content featuring the world’s finest riders across a multitude of disciplines cementing Warner Bros. Discovery’s position as the true Home of Cycling.

In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery’s coverage across discovery+*, GCN+, Eurosport and Eurosport App will feature at least:

• 300 days of cycling, including every key race from the UCI World Tour
• 210 cycling events live
• 4,000 hours of cycling coverage, including replays
• 1,000 hours of live coverage, including digital platforms
• Over 500 locally produced shows throughout 2023
• Comprehensive coverage of the UCI Women's World Tour 

Scott Young, SVP Content and Production at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe said: “As the Home of Cycling, we feel a great responsibility to deliver the best possible experience to fans across our platforms. To be able to showcase over 300 days of cycling takes a monumental effort and one we take great pride in.

“Whether it be through live coverage, in-depth analysis including immersive storytelling, unrivalled expertise or a deeper engagement with the sport via feature-length documentaries, Warner Bros. Discovery is the true destination for cycling fans. We will be at the epicentre of the sport throughout the season, solidifying our approach to year-long storytelling with Paris 2024 on the horizon for so many of the athletes that will be seen during our coverage.”

NEW NAMES JOIN FOR UNPARALLELLED COVERAGE OF ROAD CYCLING
Warner Bros. Discovery will once again broadcast every stage of each of the Grand Tours – Giro d’Italia (6-28 May), Tour de France (1-23 July) and La Vuelta (26 August-17 September) as well as each of the Monument Classics and every one-day Classic race on the UCI World Tour calendar. In 2023, for the first time, viewers will enjoy deeper analysis of each stage of the Tour of Flanders (2 April) and Paris-Roubaix (9 April) Classic races with the race hosted from the mixed-reality Cube studio.

After EVERY race of the UCI Women’s World Tour was broadcast on its platforms in 2021 and 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery continues its commitment to gender equality this year with extensive coverage of every major women’s road race including the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (23-30 July), the Giro d’ Italia Donne (30 June-9 July) as well as next month’s one-day Tour of Flanders Women (2 April), Paris-Roubaix Femmes (8 April), La Fleche Wallonne Feminine (19 April) and Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes (23 April).

At the Warner Bros. Discovery cycling season launch, it was announced that 2012 World Champion and winner of four of cycling’s five Monuments Philippe Gilbert would be joining its team offering expert analysis from each of the Grand Tours and a handful of the Classics throughout the season for millions of fans across Europe. Gilbert joins an impressive collection of experts – including Alberto Contador and Jens Voigt – who will appear on-screen throughout the season on a pan-European basis for some of the sport’s biggest events.

Speaking at the season launch event, former 2012 World Champion-turned-cycling expert Philippe Gilbert, said: “It’s great to be back in the peloton with Eurosport and GCN+, especially on the motorbike. It’s a great experience to be able to give insights into what is happening on the road. It’s nice because you are free, you go from the back of the peloton to the breakaway and then when the race starts you go in-between the groups – you can be behind the leaders, behind the chasers, you can be back in the bunch. It’s a really good position because you can choose your position and you are always in the action.

“To be working for Eurosport and GCN+ is a big honour because I have always been a fan of Eurosport and watched the cycling coverage on Eurosport from a young age. I used to always love doing interviews with them and now being a part of the family is really nice for me.”

Across Europe, viewers will be able to enjoy hearing the thoughts of some of the finest minds in the sport of cycling throughout the year, including Orla Chennaoui, Adam Blythe and Robbie McEwen (all UK); Guillaume DiGrazia, Jacky Durand and Steve Chainel (all France); Laura Meseguer, Eduardo Chozas and Dori Ruano (all Spain); Riccardo Magrini, Ilenia Lazzaro and Luca Gregorio (all Italy); David Marcour, Lisa Brennauer and Bernie Eisel (Germany); as well as Karsten Kroon and Sander Kleikers (both Netherlands). Iris Slappendel, meanwhile, will be back on the bike reporting from inside the peloton at the Paris-Roubaix Femmes and Tour de France Femmes.

A NEW ERA FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING
2023 represents a brand new era for mountain biking – with the UCI Mountain Bike World Series the new home of UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in the formats of cross-country Olympic, cross-country short track, cross-country marathon, downhill and enduro and E-enduro – a move which unifies the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup experience for fans.

Warner Bros. Discovery will harness the breadth of its network throughout the year to further grow the sport and ensure the widest possible audiences are reached. Broadcasts of the downhill, cross-country and cross-country short-track elite finals and all major races from each race weekend on Eurosport will be complemented by coverage on Eurosport.com and discovery+* with global coverage on GCN+. Support races from each event weekend will be available to watch for free via Eurosport.com, GCN+, GMBN Racing YouTube channel and the official UCI Mountain Bike World Series YouTube site.

As well as broadening the reach of the series, Warner Bros. Discovery will revolutionise the way mountain biking is watched by fans across the globe, the highlight of which is set to be a bumper ten-day festival of mountain biking at Haute Savoie (7-17 September). Over 20 cameras, supplemented by three camera drones, will transform the mountain-biking viewer experience at each event – offering fans entirely different angles from each venue and ensuring every major moment is captured in every single race.

At WBD's cycling season launch event, Kate Mason was unveiled as the anchor for each UCI Mountain Bike World Series event broadcast on Warner Bros. Discovery platforms, starting with the first round of the 2023 UCI Cross-country World Cups from Nové Město na Moravě (11-14 May). Mason will be joined by mountain biking luminaries including former UCI World Cup winner Cedric Gracia (expert commentator), Bart Brentjens (expert commentator), the first man to win gold for mountain biking at the Olympics, Josh Carlson (reporter), Hayley Edmonds (reporter) and Ric McLaughlin (lead commentator).

Cedric Gracia, visiting the Cube studio in London for the cycling season launch event, said: “I am extremely excited, of course. We are going to add new technology into this beautiful sport, drones following races, incredible views, if you are not familiar with mountain biking then it might be a good time to start. Put your seatbelt on because it’s going to be flat-out.

“It’s going to be the perfect time for people to start following mountain biking. The evolution of mountain biking is exceptional - for me, it is the new Formula 1, we have telemetry on the bikes, everyone is working so hard to get that victory. It is going to be exceptional.”

Meanwhile, Global Mountain Bike Network’s dedicated race-focussed YouTube channel, GMBN Racing, will offer superfans a deeper experience of the format with a dedicated news show, highlights packages, race previews, bike checks and exclusive behind-the-scenes content from some of the iconic rounds throughout the season.

In January, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced the launch new UCI Mountain Bike World Series brand - uniting all mountain bike’s major formats under a single brand for the first time – including cross-country Olympic (XCO), cross-country short track (XCC), cross-country marathon (XCM), downhill (DHI), enduro (EDR) and E-enduro (E-EDR). Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery was appointed to advance the sport of mountain biking as part of an eight-year agreement with the UCI, tasked with deploying its extensive assets and expertise, including Discovery Sports Events and ESO Sports, to elevate mountain biking to the next level and reach a global audience.

TRACK CYCLING SEASON HEATS UP WITH SEASON THREE OF THE UCI TRACK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AHEAD OF PARIS 2024
Preparations for next summer’s Olympic Games in Paris intensify with the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow (3-13 August) and the UCI Track Champions League broadcast live on Warner Bros. Discovery platforms, including discovery+, Eurosport, Eurosport App and GCN+.

The third edition of the hugely-successful UCI Track Champions League - a partnership between Discovery Sports Events and the UCI – will this year start in October, taking place across five rounds in four cities, ensuring all of the key riders can take part in one of the most innovative sporting series in the world.

Dame Laura Kenny, a five-time Olympic gold medallist who competed in the 2022 edition of the UCI Track Champions League, said at the season launch event: “I've seen the Track Champions League from both sides - from an athlete and as a broadcaster. Both sides bring something completely different - as an athlete, you get the really intense side, but as a broadcaster, you actually start to peel back the layers of the relationships between the riders, who is competitive with who, and who gets on with who on and off the track. It gives you a real insight into personalities.

“The UCI TCL is great because it is short, sharp and I think it's a great way to introduce track cycling to new audiences. It is over a number of events so you learn about those riders and you get to learn what races they are good at. From a rider's perspective, it's brilliant because it is fast-paced and so intense.”

In 2022, more than 18,000 spectators packed velodromes in Mallorca, Berlin, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Paris) and London. Seventy-two of the world’s best track cyclists – boasting 60 UCI Track World Championships titles and 28 Olympic medals between them – competed for the series honours in the men’s and women’s sprint and endurance categories. The star-studded field, which included Harrie Lavreysen, Mathilde Gros and Katie Archibald contributed to a reported total of 25.2m video views over the five rounds of the second season.

ENRICHED EXPERIENCE FOR CYCLING FANS
The live action on the track, the hills and the velodrome throughout the year will be complemented by reporting and analysis on Eurosport’s digital platforms that will include highlights, and expert opinions from each key event broadcast. 

For the cycling superfans, GCN+ is the premium streaming service offering live, ad free and on-demand racing plus original, exclusive documentaries available at home and on-the-go on any device. 2023 will also see a wealth of brand new, original documentaries joining over 150 existing films already on the platform uncovering the stories of the most iconic riders and brands plus the history of races that changed the face of the sport.

NEW ‘HOME OF CYCLING’ MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Warner Bros. Discovery’s coverage of cycling in 2023 is underpinned by a brilliant new Home of Cycling campaign. Recorded at Mogador Studios in Paris, France, the promo features a host of experts – including Alberto Contador, Jens Voigt, Laura Meseguer, Adam Blythe, Ilenia Lazzaro and Iris Slappendel – each of whom are the voices of cycling in their respective countries and across Europe.

The spot brings to life the incredible wheel-to-wheel action fans can expect to see across 300 days of cycling – whether it be on the road, on the track, or on the hills – in 2023. 

*Streaming is available on discovery+ in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK and Ireland.