DISCOVERY BECOMES GLOBAL HOME OF THE GIRO D’ITALIA WITH LONG-TERM RIGHTS AGREEMENT

Discovery has secured the exclusive global rights to show the Giro d’Italia until at least 2025** in a move that further strengthens its unrivalled live cycling coverage and reputation as the home of the Grand Tours.

The long-term deal with RCS Sport via IMG means Discovery retains its status as the Giro’s multi-platform rights holder, providing live and uninterrupted coverage of every stage from the year’s first Grand Tour on Eurosport via discovery+*, Discovery’s new global streaming product, and through the Global Cycling Network (GCN).

A range of UCI World Tour events and one-day Classics held in Italy are also part of the agreement including the Strade Bianche Men and Women Elite, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-Torino, Gran Piemonte, the Giro di Sicilia, Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia. The first UCI World Tour event of the 2021 season, the UAE Tour, is also included on an exclusive basis***, further strengthening Discovery’s commitment to offering viewers the greatest choice of world-class racing throughout the year.

Andrew Georgiou, President, Eurosport and Global Sports Rights & Sports Marketing Solutions, said: “Discovery has a rich heritage of screening the widest range of men’s and women’s cycling events through Eurosport and GCN and is constantly innovating to provide the best viewing experience for passionate cycling fans everywhere. 

“We’re pleased to have consolidated our portfolio of world-class cycling rights through a long-term extension with RCS to keep the Giro d’Italia on our channels and platforms for years to come. Through our partnership between Eurosport and GCN, and increasingly in 2021 through discovery+, we will continue to harness our deep cycling expertise and unrivalled global scale to unlock the power of the sport for all to enjoy.”

Guy Voisin, Director of Cycling at Eurosport and GCN, said: “Eurosport and GCN will deepen our collaboration even further this year and will screen more live cycling than ever before including uninterrupted coverage of every Grand Tour, Classic and Olympic cycling event, and through local digital and linear shows covering all forms of the sport. We look forward to kick-starting the 2021 road cycling season through our first-class coverage of the UAE Tour from February, offering more ways than ever for fans to engage with the sport they love.”

In addition to showing every minute of every Grand Tour in 2020, Eurosport and GCN’s commitment to providing fans with the best content within a 360-degree cycling ecosystem sees a range of local digital shows and podcasts offered for fans in multiple markets including The Breakaway and The Bradley Wiggins Show podcast (UK), Bistrot Vélo (France) and Extra Time (Germany). The Discovery brands will continue to showcase world-class cycling throughout 2021 with 300 days of live men’s and women’s events on offer, including 16 days of action from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, broadening the reach of the sport in all its forms to a global audience.

The news follows Eurosport’s announcement that it will screen a raft of world-class UCI events in 2021 including the UCI Road World Championship, UCI Track Cycling World Championship, UCI Mountain Biking World Championship, BMX World Championship, Urban Cycling World Championship, Cyclo-Cross World Championship as well as the conclusion of the Cyclo-Cross World Cup****.

*Complementing linear broadcasts on Eurosport, discovery+ will be the streaming home of the Giro, or via the Eurosport App and GCN in markets where discovery+ has not yet launched

**Discovery has secured the worldwide rights on an exclusive basis excluding:

Italy, San Marino and Vatican City on a non-exclusive basis.

Rights for all events start from 2022 in: Mexico & Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama) and the Dominican Republic, Caribbean, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela).

Rights for all events start in New Zealand from 2023.

***UAE Tour rights excluded in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Chad, Niger, Mali, Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia, Comoros Islands, Iran, Eritrea, Mauritania, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara.

****Excluding in France, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Cyclo-cross rights excluded in Belgium.

All events within the multi-year RCS Sport deal include:

• UCI World Tour - UAE Tour (seven stages in February)

• UCI World Tour - Giro d’Italia (21 stages in May)

• UCI World Tour - Strade Bianche Men (one day in March)

• UCI Women’s World Tour - Strade Bianche Women Elite (one day in March)

• UCI World Tour - Tirreno–Adriatico (seven stages in March)

• UCI World Tour - Milan–San Remo (one day in March)

• UCI Europe Tour – Milan-Torino (one day in October)

• UCI World Tour: - Il Lombardia (one day in October)

• UCI Europe Tour: - Gran Piemonte (one day in October)

• UCI Europe Tour - Giro Di Sicilia (four stages in April)