2020 Tour de France live stream: How to watch the race online

2020 Tour de France live stream
(Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Tour de France start time, schedule

The 2020 Tour de France coverage continues daily until September 20 on NBCSN. Full schedule of stages below.

Follow cycling's biggest event and watch the 2020 Tour de France live stream online and on TV. The three-week race is about halfway complete and some very tough mountain stages await the peloton in the coming days. The riders have already been dealing with difficult weather conditions, so the fight for the yellow jersey will be fierce.

The 107th edition of the Tour de France started August 29 and continues through September 20. The race starts in Nice, France and will move across the country (including 12 new sites) before ending on the iconic Champs-Elysées in Paris.

The 2020 Tour de France was originally scheduled for June 27 to July 19, but was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This is the first year since World War II that the Tour de France did not occur in July. 

Tour leaders worked closely with the French government to ensure the race follows safety and health regulations. Cycling teams are in bubbles together, with new members added only after two weeks of quarantine and testing. Anybody who violates bubble rules is sent home.

This week's rest day brought COVID-19 testing. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and four team staffers tested positive and will leave to quarantine in isolation.

The 2020 Tour de France feature 22s teams, with eight riders per team. The 21 stages are split into nine flat, eight mountainous, three hilly and one individual time trial.

Through stage 10, the contenders for the coveted yellow jersey include leader Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) and last year's champion Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) who could repeat and become only the second rider to win the Tour twice before turning 24.

Here's everything you need to watch the 2020 Tour de France live stream.

How to watch 2020 Tour de France live stream with a VPN

If you're away from home and can't watch the 2020 Tour de France live stream from where you are, you can still get the livestreams with a virtual private network, or VPN. A VPN makes it so that you can appear to be surfing the web from your home town, so you can access the same streaming services you already paid for. 

Not sure which VPN is right for you? We've tested many different services and our pick for the best VPN overall is ExpressVPN. It offers superb speeds and excellent customer service. But you've got other VPN options as well. Here are our top picks.

ExpressVPN

We think speed, security and simplicity make <a href="https://go.expressvpn.com/c/4550836/1330033/16063?subId1=hawk-custom-tracking&sharedId=hawk&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.expressvpn.com%2Foffer%2Ftomsguide%3Foffer%3D3monthsfree%26a_fid%3D744" data-link-merchant="expressvpn.com"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">ExpressVPN second to none. During our tests, we saw fast connection times, and we're impressed by the service's ability to access more than 3,000 services spread out across 160 locations in 94 countries. There's a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied.

How to watch the 2020 Tour de France live stream in the US

In the U.S., the 2020 Tour de France is airing daily on NBC Sports Network, usually starting at 7 a.m. ET.

If you don't have a cable or satellite package, and have cut the cord, you can get NBCSN via live TV streaming services (depending on your region), including Fubo TV, Sling TV, Hulu With Live TV, and AT&T TV Now.

NBC Sports Gold is also streaming the race. Sign up and you can watch every stage live, on-demand and ad-free. The service costs $54.99 for a year's subscription that includes a number of other major cycling events.

Of these options, we recommend Fubo TV, which is $55 per month for more than 109 channels. Sports fans will find a number of niche sports channels among its lineup. Sling is also a great option at $30 with more than 50 channels.

Fubo.TV:

<a href="https://www.fubo.tv/?irad=366904&irmp=221109&subId1=hawk-custom-tracking" data-link-merchant="fubo.tv"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Fubo.TV: If you love sports, you probably want to check out Fubo.TV. It's got a 7-day free trial so you don't need to pay up front. Fubo's dozens of channels include local networks as well as sports-focused channels like NBC Sports Network and ESPN.

Sling TV

NBC Sports Network is a part of the <a href="https://sling-tv.pxf.io/c/221109/1132376/14334?subId1=hawk-custom-tracking&sharedId=hawk&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sling.com%2F" data-link-merchant="sling.com"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Sling TV Blue package, which costs $30 and comes with more than 50 channels. If you get the Sling Orange + Blue package for $45, you also get ESPN. Sling is currently offering a three-day free trial and a 1-year price lock, so you don't need to worry about rising costs.

2020 Tour de France season live streams in the UK

Cycling enthusiasts can watch the 2020 Tour de France on ITV4, Eurosport and GCN. 

All three networks will show live coverage of the stages, as well as a highlights show in the evenings.

A subscription to Eurosport Player costs £6.99 per month and £39.99 per year. The GCN Race Pass is available in the UK and Australia and costs £39.99 for a year. 

2020 Tour de France live stream in Canada

Canadians can get all the Tour de France action exclusively on FloBikes. A subscription to the service costs $30 per month or $150 for the year, and you also get access to other big races.

2020 Tour de France stages schedule

Here's the schedule and route for the 21 stages of the 2020 Tour de France.

2020 Tour de France route

(Image credit: Tour de France)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
StageDateCourseDistanceType
1August 29Nice to Nice170 km (106 mi)Hilly
2August 30Nice to Nice190 km (118 mi)Medium mountain
3August 31Nice to Sisteron198 km (123 mi)Flat
4September 1Sisteron to Orcières-Merlette157 km (98 mi)Hilly
5September 2Gap to Privas183 km (114 mi)Flat
6September 3Le Teil to Mont Aigoual191 km (119 mi)Hilly
7September 4Millau to Lavaur168 km (104 mi)Flat
8September 5Cazères to Loudenvielle140 km (87 mi) Mountain
9September 6, 7Pau to Laruns / rest day154 km (96 mi) Mountain
10September 8Île d'Oléron to Île de Ré170 km (106 mi) Flat
11September 9Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers167 km (104 mi) Flat
12September 10Chauvigny to Sarran218 km (135 mi) Hilly
13September 11Châtel-Guyon to Puy Mary191 km (119 mi) Medium mountain
14September 12Clermont-Ferrand to Lyon197 km (122 mi) Flat
15September 13, 14Lyon to Grand Colombier / rest day175 km (109 mi) Mountain
16September 15La Tour-du-Pin to Villard-de-Lans164 km (102 mi) Mountain
17September 16Grenoble to Méribel (Col de la Loze)168 km (104 mi) Mountain
18September 17Méribel to La Roche-sur-Foron168 km (104 mi) Mountain
19September 18Bourg-en-Bresse to Champagnole160 km (99 mi) Flat
20September 19Lure to La Planche des Belles Filles36 km (22 mi) Mountain time trial
21September 20Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris (Champs-Élysées)122 km (76 mi) Flat

Kelly Woo
Streaming Editor

Kelly is the streaming channel editor for Tom’s Guide, so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, TV Guide and other outlets. When she’s not watching TV and movies for work, she’s watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.