3 Weeks 'til Cyclocross

September 09, 2018

Let's change gears a bit - we've been focusing on your personal performance, but sometimes you just want to sit on the couch with a good Belgian beer and watch others suffer. When it's time for some R&R, why not watch some cyclocross?

Things have come a long way and you can now watch many 'cross races on the big screen in hi-def. Here's an overview of the various ways you can stream cyclocross racing, and some notes on a couple of the key events and series' taking place in 2018/19 too.

OFFICIAL STREAMING PROVIDERS:

Flo Bikes - In addition to cyclocross races like GP Mario De Clercq (Ronse), Koppenbergcross, and Jaarmarktcross, Flo has a lot of "2nd-tier" road races that could be hard to find elsewhere, making them worth consideration.
NBC Sports - You can get the NBC Sports channel on some satellite and cable television providers and they will typically have some "highlights" of key cycling events, but as of this writing, don't show any cyclocross events on the calendar for Fall 2018. They have moved the cyclocross races to...
the NBC Sports Gold Cycling Pass - a streaming-only subscription service, you don't need cable/satellite. The primary benefit for cyclocross fans is that this is the official stream for the UCI Cyclocross World Cup and the World Championship in the USA. You also get coverage of other races like the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, etc.
Trek Bikes - Trek has jumped into cyclocross in a big way with the Waterloo World Cup right in their backyard. Although they haven't announced an updated schedule yet, we hope they'll continue with their streams of the DVV Trofee Series, as they did last season. Sometimes doesn't have English commentary but can't beat the price - free!

KEY EVENTS:

World Championships - will be streamed by the UCI directly on their YouTube channel. Generally, this stream will be "geo-locked" and will only work in certain countries, and the USA usually isn't one of them. You will need a VPN or Proxy to convince YouTube you aren't in the USA to access. Should also show up on the Gold Cycling Pass, but usually condensed to fit into an hour (and has had commercials that interrupt the action previously) so die-hard fans who want the pre-and-post game too will want to look overseas for their fix.
United States National Championships - this one should be free for USA fans via the USA Cycling YouTube channel and has been well-executed in the past, often with commentary from retired pros like Tim Johnson.
Cyclocross World Cup - NBC Sports subscription streaming Gold Cycling Pass should have the entire Telenet World Cup series.
DVV Series - If Trek streams these events as they did last season (see above) that will be the best option for USA fans.
Superprestige Series - This one is a question mark currently. Don't see a streaming partner in the USA for 2018/19.
Smaller USA races - barring a handful of races picked up by Flo Bikes (they are streaming Rochester Cyclocross as I write this, for example, and have Reno Cross on their upcoming calendar), streaming of smaller domestic races is slim due to the high costs to live broadcast races. The next-best-thing may be the post-race video highlights with commentary posted by CXHairs.