ADVERTISEMENT Tour de France and Femmes 2026 Tour de France 2026: Inside TNT Sports’ exclusive production of the men’s race and the Tour de Femmes By: Heather McLean, Editor • Posted on: 2 Jul, 2026 • 11 minute read ADVERTISEMENT This is the first year that TNT Sports is live in the UK exclusively with the Tour de France, after parent company Warner Bros. Discovery previously showed non-exclusive coverage on Eurosport in the UK. More than 100 hours of live television coverage across all 21 stages of the men’s race (4 to 26 July) including every kilometre, every climb and every sprint finish, will be shown on TNT Sports 1 in the UK and Ireland. Alongside this, every kilometre of the Tour de Femmes (1 to 9 August) produced by the host broadcaster and race organiser ASO will be shown live, comprising 27 hours of coverage. Previously ITV Sport shared the UK rights to both races alongside Eurosport and TNT Sports. However, Doug Ferguson, senior producer for cycling, WBD Sports, says even though this is the broadcaster’s first exclusive year with the deal in the UK, it does not change its production plan standard. Speaking to SVG Europe, he explains: “This doesn’t change a huge amount for us because it’s not like we’re not going to try extra hard [with the production]; we try extra hard every year. It’s the Tour de France; we have to. We have to try to achieve the best we can for every race, but particularly the Tour. It’s the pinnacle of our sport and therefore we are seeking to achieve the pinnacle of our broadcasting, regardless of who else we might be competing against.” Ferguson adds that now with the exclusive rights for the UK market, “it puts more pressure on us because we do think there’ll be more eyes on, because there is no alternative [broadcaster], and that in itself is very exciting”. Guy Voisin, VP cycling, WBD Sports, notes: “It’s the climax of the year for cycling so it’s always a fun moment.” Alberto Contador, Eurosport cycling expert, is one of TNT Sports’ talented presenters for the Tour de France 2026 [Credit: Getty Images] Partnership with 5 This year, Channel 5 has partnered with TNT Sports to deliver exclusive English-language free-to-air highlights coverage of cycling’s Grand Tours in the UK. 5 will broadcast daily free-to-air highlights in the UK for the Tour de France (2026–2028), Vuelta a España (2026–2028), and Giro d’Italia (2027–2029). Voisin says: “The big news of the Tour de France is that this is our first year exclusively live in the UK. However, the really highlight is that we get to work with our colleagues over at 5 to offer highlights every evening, and Doug’s team has had to figure out how to deliver that on a really tight turnaround -some evenings even almost impossible – but I think they’ve got it down to a nice workflow and it should be really fun.” TNT Sports’ team under Ferguson has built the highlights package for 5. It is a studio-based show hosted by presenter Rebecca Charlton for expert analysis, race highlights and everything the free-to-air channel’s viewers need to keep up with cycling’s biggest event. Breakaway on location To ramp up the coverage this year, TNT Sports is working hard to capture the atmosphere of the fans at key points, particularly at the ski resort of Alpe d’Huez. The Tour de France returns to the Alpe d’Huez with two stages in 2026 for the first time ever: on 24 July for stage 19, departure from Gap and arrival at Alpe d’Huez through the 21 bends climb; then on July 25 for stage 20, departure from Bourg d’Oisans and arrival at the Alpe d’Huez via the Col de Sarenne. Comments Ferguson: “What we’ve done this year – and it’s kind of a coincidence because of the double Alpe d’Huez finish – is to capture more of the race atmosphere, we’ll be out there. We’ll be there for that final week [of the Tour] in Alpe d’Huez. Even though the race doesn’t get there till the Friday, we’ll be there broadcasting from the Tuesday because I know from experience of being there that the crowds will be there; there’ll be drunk Dutch people on that mountain from, well, God knows what hour of the morning, but there will be atmosphere there. “And that’s the one thing we can’t do in the Curve, in our AR studio [based at Stockley Park, London]. We can bring in the atmosphere [to the studio]; the onsite team do a fantastic job of that with however many cameras they have, or however many reporter teams they have at the various Grand Tours, but we can’t be ‘in’ it. “Well, this year we’re going to be in it,” he continues. “This year we’re going to bring fans that. That’s what we’ve tried to start doing to a lesser degree with the offsite stuff that we did during the Giro; we took The Breakaway away for three days, taking it to the cycling community to get our talent in front face-to-face with people.” The Breakaway is TNT Sports’ flagship cycling show offering previews and reviews of cycling events. The Breakaway will air before and after each stage. Its base at Longwalk Studios, Stockley Park, London, features a virtual set that will use the latest technology and storytelling innovations to provide even deeper analysis of each stage. For the first time during its coverage of the Tour de France, TNT Sports is taking the show on the road to give fans a front row seat to the race and The Breakaway . Building on the success of its live studio shows during the Giro d’Italia, The Breakaway will broadcast live with two further Tour de France shows at Rapha Cafe in Soho and South Down Social in Winchester. Orla Chennaoui together with regular guests Robbie McEwen, Matt Stephens and Adam Blythe will broadcast from the heart of the cycling community on Friday 10 July at the Rapha Clubhouse, and on Friday 17 July at the South Downs Social. Both venues are known as a go-to destination for the cycling community as well as being local hubs for cycling fans to relax and enjoy the atmosphere among fellow enthusiasts, making them the perfect environment to bring TNT Sports’ live shows to life. TNT Sports’ Curve studio for cycling Different vibe Ferguson continues on the presentation plan for Alpe d’Huez: “It will be smaller in Alpe d’Huez outdoors and that’s not because we’re placing a limit on it, other than what’s practically possible. It’s not an easy place to go and broadcast from. It’s probably going to be stinking hot, and if it’s not, it’s going to be lashing sideways rain, neither of which are conducive to easy broadcasting, and it’s relatively remote. There’s a ski town at the top, which means that the connectivity’s not too bad, but it is the top of a mountain in the Alps; it’s not a nice cosy little studio where you can just plug that in there and do this here. It creates lots of other issues, but they’re issues that are great fun to overcome.” Ferguson went to Alpe d’Huez on a recce in mid June, and says of the location that, “we stayed in the hotel that the guys are going to stay in when they get there and we walked 70 yards down the road, pointed a camera [towards the mountains] and it’s like, “well, that’s the recon done!” because it’s the Alps, it’s the valley, and it just looks so stunning,” he says. He says that even though producing the Tour de France show for TNT Sports will be tiring, that being on location with talent will “lift” the atmosphere in a way that simply is not possible in a studio. He adds: “When the talent arrive in Alpe d’Huez, no matter how long it takes them to get there, they’ll get out the taxi and go, “yeah, we’re here now”. They’ll drive up through the fans and be like, “this is brilliant!”. There’ll be a lift. It’ll just be a different vibe.” He adds: “We’ll have positions [around the town and racecourse] rather than a studio. The logistics of it is so tricky, so we’re not overthinking it, not overdoing it, because like I say, it looks so stunning. But when the race gets there, we have to be in a fixed position because then we fall under ASO [management] so they will give us a position which will be on the finish line.” [Credit: Getty Images] Tour de Femmes TNT Sports also shows as much as it possibly can of the Tour de Femme, however the team are disappointed that ASO does not provide equal coverage of the women’s Tour, compared to the men’s. The race does not receive a broadcast production throughout every stage, and the host broadcaster does not provide the multiple single camera feeds that would enable TNT Sports to create a Multi-view experience either. Multi-view, available on HBO Max, allows viewers to watch up to four events simultaneously on one screen, with the option to switch between screens. Ferguson says: “ASO don’t send all those camera signals. There’s always a bone of contention for me as a live producer that they don’t cover the race from flag to line, live. So we get two of the nine stages of flag to line coverage. The other seven will join with, depending how fast they race, at 75, 90, or 100 kilometres to go, which is a real shame. “It means we’re always chasing our tail a little bit to make sure the viewer is up to date with the story, because we’re doing it off ProCyclingStats or off another website or somewhere that’s updating, because we don’t get the pictures. It’s a point we always make and I think we risk sounding repetitive when we say we’re bringing the viewer every available kilometre, but it absolutely is not our choice; we would show everything if they showed it. We show everything we can. It’s frustrating to say the least.” To generate more stories of the tour de Femmes, Ferguson’s team is going to be out on the road, filming and working to fill the gaps left by the host broadcast coverage. Voisin sings Ferguson’s praises for the lengths he goes to in order to get those stories: “Doug and our other producers across Europe, they’re sending out our teams, our reporters, to the start [of the Tour de Femmes] every day to create those stories, to get us started, to shoot anything. “Doug’s the only producer in the entire cycling community that at the very first Paris-Roubaix [Femmes Hauts-de-France], he sent a camera to the very first cobbled section and he’s the only camera in the world to get Lizzie Deignan’s attack; so when you saw [that attack] on any other channel, it was shared by Doug because he had decided to do that. So that’s our dedication to the women’s Peloton.” Voisin goes on: “We hold the rights to 100% of the women’s World Tour and no matter the territory in Europe, we’ve shown all of them and every minute of them. We’re the only ones who have shown all the women’s rights in all the racing in the UK and in Europe from the beginning. And in fact, a lot of the race producers are producing more content now, because we’ll show it.” However, Voisin adds: “To be fair to ASO, they’re a good partner and they don’t even do flag to line for the Volta. But should they be producing [Tour de France Femmes]? Yeah, absolutely. They should be producing a lot more, especially because it’s such a flagship event for the women’s Peloton.” Ferguson goes on that there is a lot of development to be done on growing the market for cycling: “Cycling’s still small compared to the leviathan that is football; cycling is still a niche sport in the UK. Despite 2010, 2012, 2014, all the years when [Chris] Froome, [Bradley] Wiggins, [Mark] Cavendish were dominating, it’s still smaller than football. “But that’s the bar I’m trying to set every time,” continues Ferguson. “I want people to look at it the same way I do, which is that it’s a wonderful sport that deserves their eyes on it. It’s like a World Cup in that there are nearly four weeks of the Tour by the time the teams get there; OK, the World Cup’s longer this year because there’s 400 teams playing in it,” he laughs, “but there are stories to develop, to change, to crop up out of nowhere, for new technical and tactical things to develop at all points in time, and we have to try and be ready to tell those stories, to cover those stories, in the best way that we can, be that with reaction in our studio or from our wonderful onsite teams.” Sharing News Roundup Around The Industry Levira appoints Tõnu Grünberg as chief executive By: George Bevir Posted on: 28 Aug, 2026 IBC2026 TAG Video Systems to demonstrate sub-two-frame latency and 800 Gbps ST 2110 monitoring at IBC2026 By: Will Strauss, Editor Posted on: 28 Aug, 2026 IBC2026 Telestream to unveil the next phase of Up at IBC2026 By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 27 Aug, 2026 IBC2026 IBC2026: Axia Pulsar and Omnia XII among product debuts from Telos Alliance By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 27 Aug, 2026 IBC2026 Bridge Technologies expands relationship with Heynen By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 27 Aug, 2026 IBC2026 IAMT reveals nominees for Impact Awards at IBC2026 By: George Bevir Posted on: 27 Aug, 2026 IBC2026 FOR-A integrates CuePilot for automated production By: George Bevir Posted on: 27 Aug, 2026 Related Articles Football TNT Sports prepares for a huge season of live football with seven major trophies on the line With more than 700 live matches across the Premier League,... 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