MORE ANALYSIS, FAN INTERACTION AND DEEPER EXPERTISE TO UNDERPIN EUROSPORT’S COVERAGE OF THE GIRO

Fans won’t miss a minute of the action in the race for the maglia rosa, with an unprecedented level of coverage including over 100 hours of coverage – from live cycling to post-race analysis - cementing Eurosport as the true ‘Home of Cycling’ on TV, digital and online. New for this year:

- Eurosport and GCN collaborating to create brilliant content for millions of cycling fans across the globe

- Behind-the-scenes access to some of the best teams competing in this year’s Giro

- 60 Second Pro short-form series starring some of the biggest names in the sport

Emir Osmanbegovic, SVP Sports Content & Production at Eurosport, said: “We are incredibly proud of our heritage in cycling and our deep expertise in the sport. Cycling fans are extremely passionate and together with the great team at GCN we are powering that passion by offering a full, 360-degree experience of all 21 stages of the Giro d’Italia on all platforms."

"Our coverage will feature the best and biggest names in the sport across Europe and we will deliver cycling fans the depth of coverage they deserve.”

Bradley Wiggins, who will link up with Eurosport in the UK throughout the season, added: “I am excited to be working for Eurosport at the Giro. Eurosport is the go-to destination for the best races throughout the season and I am looking forward to giving my own, unfiltered views during the Giro.

“At this year’s race, with the three ITT, you think that would favour Tom Dumoulin. You obviously have Egal Bernal as well who is fresh on the back of his Paris-Nice victory – he is an immense talent who I am sure will win the Giro one day. It’s going to be a fantastic race and it's probably the best race to watch of them all. I’ll go for Simon Yates, with Bernal as the dark horse.” At the end of each stage, a 30-minute Giro Extra show on Eurosport will re-cap the best of the day’s action. Eurosport’s extensive coverage of the race will be complemented by GCN, who create a variety of engaging video content on-site in their own inimitable style for millions of cycling fans across the globe including in local languages (Spanish and Italian in addition to English) for the very first time. Supplementing Eurosport’s live coverage will be the return of 60 Seconds Pro – a short-form feature series breaking down key elements of the sport - featuring cycling luminaries Tom Dumoulin, Simon Yates and Matteo Trentin. Viewers across Europe will also be handed the chance to go inside the mind of a Grand Tour rookie, with Pascal Ackermann of the Boara-Hansgrohe team giving Eurosport exclusive access throughout his first-ever Giro d’Italia. Fans in the Netherlands, meanwhile, will have inside and exclusive access to Team Sunweb while Eurosport viewers in Poland will have similar behind-the-scenes access to Team CCC.

Giving fans an idea of the travails encountered by professional cyclists competing in Italy, Juan Antonio Flecha will once again offer his own insights via six recons at stages of varying difficulties during Eurosport’s coverage.  Eurosport’s line-up of experts for the Giro d’Italia reads like a who’s-who of cycling royalty, with Juan Antonio Flecha once again reporting live from the front line while two-time winner of the Giro d’Italia Alberto Contador will be an integral part of Eurosport’s coverage in Spain in his role as analyst. Following the announcement that he is to front a 20-part podcast series last month, five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Bradley Wiggins will be linking up with Eurosport in the UK as an expert analyst throughout the cycling season. Popular GCN presenters Dan Lloyd and Simon Richardson will also front Eurosport’s coverage in the UK at key times during the 21-stage race.

Eurosport’s digital and social offering will underpin its coverage away from the course, with local pre and post stage Facebook Live shows in key markets including the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and the UK – where it will launch a brand-new cycling debate show where the fans themselves will be encouraged to drive the news agenda. GCN will also be producing a daily race show throughout the Giro d’Italia ensuring fans won’t miss a beat from one of the most thrilling races of the season.

The 102nd edition of the Giro d’Italia promises a balanced but testing route that includes three individual time trials and five mountain finishes. The Corsa Rosa will start with an 8.2km individual time trial in Bologna May 11, featuring the tough Santuario della Madonna di San Luca climb. The winner will be crowned in Verona after a 15.6k time trial stage. Eurosport will screen the first Grand Tour of the season LIVE in an incredible 89 markets and territories across Europe, mainland Asia and Asia-Pacific regions. Discovery-owned Quest (UK) will broadcast daily highlights while another Discovery brand, Kanal 5 (Denmark), will screen the first two stages of the race from Bologna live.

Last year, the Eurosport network recorded its second best-ever Giro d’Italia while Eurosport in the Netherlands broke its own audience record for the race. Boosted by Chris Froome’s unforgettable triumph as he held off the challenge of defending champion Tom Dumoulin, Eurosport in the UK also registered double-digit growth versus 2017. With over 2,500 hours of total coverage across 200 days of live cycling, from more than 110 professional events, Eurosport remains the ‘Home of Cycling’ in Europe in 2019 for all passionate fans of the sport.

Eurosport will once again provide unrivalled coverage of cycling’s most prestigious races including every Grand Tour, the five Monuments, over 35 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Tour events and, following a deal announced last year, all major UCI World Championships during 2019.

Notes to Editors

Key Dates for the Diary:

Opening stage: Saturday 11 May – Bologna-San Luca.

Final Mountain Stage: Saturday 1 June - Feltre-Croce d.Aune-Monte Avena.

Final Stage: Sunday 2 June - Verona-Verona.

Eurosport will screen the Giro d’Italia exclusively live in: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India and the Indian sub-continent, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the Vatican. Eurosport will also screen the Giro d’Italia in: UK (Quest to broadcast daily highlights), Denmark (Kanal 5 to broadcast first two stages live), Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Wales. Luxembourg, Spain

Non-exclusive territories: Afghanistan, Brunei, Cambodia, Cook Islands, East Timor, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kiribati Islands, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, North Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Wallis & Futuna Islands