‘The beginning of the end for pro cycling in the UK’ but what does the death of Eurosport mean for triathlon?
The cycling world in the UK has been in uproar following the news that Eurosport will no longer be available to them after February 2025.
Instead, the coverage of professional men’s and women’s cycling will now move under the TNT Sports umbrella – which requires a subscription of £30.99 a month – with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the parent company of the two channels, saying they are aligning their sports offerings in a “single destination”.
That’s a huge increase – 343% to be precise – from the current £6.99 for Discovery+ subscribers. And even more for those who currently get Eurosport ‘for free’ as part of their current package – it’s is a ‘no extra cost’ addition for both Sky TV and Virgin Media customers in the UK.
In 2025 the Tour de France, cycling’s jewel in the crown, is the exception to that rule as it will air for free on ITV to UK viewers but that is the last year of that deal and WBD has also confirmed that it doesn’t plan to provide any free-to-air live coverage of Le Tour in the UK from 2026, when its exclusive rights deal kicks in.
All of which prompted British publication ‘Cycling Weekly’ to suggest ‘Eurosport closing might just be the beginning of the end for pro cycling in the UK‘.
But what does this have to do with triathlon? Plenty.
Record-breaking numbers on Eurosport
There are many similarities in the UK between the two sports beyond the obvious one that cycling is an integral part of swim, bike and run.
And the two organisations which have done most in recent times to try and take triathlon mainstream – the PTO, with its T100 Triathlon World Tour, and Supertri – have both claimed huge viewing figures, in triathlon terms, via Eurosport.
Indeed Supertri’s top two headline points in what they called “a year of record-breaking engagement” in 2024 were as follows:
“Doubled broadcast viewership of supertri events on Eurosport compared to the 2023 season.
“Biggest single event broadcast audience this season was Toulouse, with 6 million people watching the race on Eurosport alone.”
The Professional Triathletes Organisation has an exclusive multi-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery which has seen their T100 races broadcast on Eurosport, again notching some impressive numbers which have grown significantly year on year.
So there’s clearly got to be a concern that in the UK and Ireland (which are the territories affected) triathlon is going to become less accessible, impacting both participation numbers and fans of the sport.
Crossover audience?
Remember too that this comes not long after another key shop window was slammed shut when the UK’s one WTCS race – and the free-to-air BBC coverage which came with it – disappeared off the calendar when British Triathlon decided the investment in the then economic climate was hard to justify.
Of course there’s a counter argument to all this and one which WBD have been keen to push.
And that’s that fans of other sports – most notably football, the biggest driver of all – will now have access to triathlon as part of their TNT package and could actually grow the audience.
That remains to be seen and we’ve reached out to both Supertri and the PTO for their thoughts.
The PTO advised us there is no official line from them at the moment but Supertri told us that they are committed to continuing to offer viewers in the UK and Ireland a free to view option as they have previously via their own channels.
They are also in discussions with Warners Bros. Discovery and all other broadcast partners around their 2025 plans ahead of the Supertri E World Triathlon Championships powered by MyWhoosh on April 5, and will release full details on where to watch nearer the time of the event.
