Grand Tour season spins onto screens as Warner Bros. Discovery presents its global Giro D’italia coverage
Picture: Tim de Waele, Getty Images
The rigours of road cycling will be laid bare as the Giro d’Italia kickstarts the Grand Tour season with every stage of cycling’s most unpredictable odyssey available to watch live through the channels and platforms of its global broadcaster, Warner Bros. Discovery.
More than just a bike race, the Giro d’Italia journeys through a spectacular landscape defined by its romance and regional communities, with the 2023 course eating up nearly 3,500km during the three-week race beginning on 6 May. A start list of 176 of the world’s greatest riders will battle it out to be adorned in the famous maglia rosa and only the toughest will make it through to the finish line in Rome on 28 May.
Scott Young, SVP content and production at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “May marks an incredibly exciting and action-packed period for our live sports content offering and we are gearing up to screen some of the biggest sporting events loved by fans globally. As the home of cycling and in our role as global broadcaster of the Giro d’Italia, we will screen every stage live for viewers as well as introducing new innovations to tell the stories of the teams and riders to better connect fans with their heroes competing.
“As well as following all the action from the men’s race, we’re already presenting live coverage from the women’s Grand Tour as part of our mission to bring parity to elite men’s and women’s sport and to champion the endeavours and stories of the immensely talented women competing in all categories of cycling. There is something for every cycling fan and the unpredictability will make for a fascinating period of world-class racing.”
Warner Bros. Discovery will show all 21 stages of the Giro d’Italia globally live and on-demand. Viewers in Europe can stream all the action on discovery+, GCN+ and the Eurosport app with television coverage on Eurosport’s channels, and fans around the world can enjoy uninterrupted streaming via GCN+.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s international presentation team in 2023 comprises some of the biggest names to have raced in recent years, including the two-time Giro d’Italia winner Alberto Contador. He will be presenting the perils of the peloton from the back of WBD’s motorbike to bring viewers into the heart of the action. He will share his duties with fellow stage winner Jens Voigt as well as Adam Blythe who contested Italy’s flagship stage race three times during his career.
They will be supported by WBD’s international team based at the Cube studio in London. This includes Orla Chennaoui, two-time contestant Dan Lloyd and 12-time Giro d’Italia stage winner Robbie McEwen who will bring their experience to analyse every major breakaway, climb and sprint for fans.
Mirroring the majesty of Italy’s regional diversity, Warner Bros. Discovery’s international coverage will be differentiated by locally-produced shows in seven different countries fronted by the most recognisable local experts such as Philippe Gilbert (France), Bernie Eisel (Germany), Brian Holm (Denmark) and Riccardo Magrini (Italy).
In 2023, fans will gain unprecedented access to the teams and riders competing as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s unique content sharing initiative. Viewers will be served behind-the-scenes videos from team hotels and buses, as well as exclusive interviews with the key players in each team at crucial moments during stages to help bring them closer to the action than ever before.
Supplementing the live action, fans can get their fix of added cycling content during the Giro d’Italia, including new GCN+ originals Nibali: The Final Year,which offers unprecedented access to two-time champion Vincenzo Nibali as he looks back at the incredible highs and lows of his career, and Giro ‘88, which features never-before-seen race footage and interviews with Andy Hampsten and Franco Chioccioli among others, who share their extraordinary experiences of one of the most infamous days in Giro d’Italia history during the 1988 race. These join more than 150 GCN+ exclusive full-length documentaries in addition to live and on-demand racing coverage, analysis and highlights accessible any time and via any device.
Eurosport’s weekly Cycling Show will continue to air every Tuesday featuring exclusive interviews and features with some of the biggest names in the sport, including recent guests Remco Evenepoel, who will be battling it out for the pink jersey this year, Mathieu van der Poel and reigning Giro d’Italia Donne champion Annemiek van Vleuten. All the news, views and reviews from Eurosport’s cycling journalists will continue to inform fans wherever they are via local language Eurosport.com sites.
The Cube studio will bring the most advanced augmented reality and analysis tools to the Giro d’Italia for the first time following its successful cycling debut during last year’s Tour de France.
Its innovations including the unique ‘inclinometer’ which examines rider speed relative to course gradient, cutting-edge 3D stage presentations and immersive backdrops that will transport viewers to Italy and help explain how the action unfolds like never before.
The 106th edition of the men’s Giro d’Italia serves as the precursor to the ten-stage women’s race – Giro Donne – expected to take place from 30 June to 9 July. Reigning champion Annemiek van Vleuten, who will retire in 2023, will be hoping to retain the pink jersey she won in 2022 with more details of the race expected to be released soon.
The women’s Grand Tour season started on 1 May with the first ever La Vuelta Femenina, which has expanded from its previous one-day race format. Through its ongoing commitment to women’s cycling and mission to bring about gender parity through its live coverage, content and storytelling, Warner Bros. Discovery will screen every stage live from La Vuelta Femenina; Tour de France Femmes and Giro Donne in 2023.
Warner Bros. Discovery continues to reach new audiences with its live cycling offer, growing its streaming audience by 6% year-on-year – driven by more fans watching races on discovery+, which has expanded its cycling viewership by more than half during the same period. Some of the biggest races of the season so far have also garnered double-digit television audience increases compared to 2022, including during Milan-San Remo (+16%), Paris-Nice (+13%) and Strade Bianche (+10%).
The 2023 Giro d’Italia begins from 13:30 CEST on Saturday 6 May on discovery+, GCN+, the Eurosport app and Eurosport 1 with an individual time trial getting the action underway for stage one. The race concludes with stage 21 finishing in Rome on Sunday 28 May with coverage from 15:30 CEST.