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How to watch Paris-Roubaix 2022 in the UK, US and abroad

The Hell of the North returns to torment riders once again in 2022, so get ready to stream all the racing to your mobile, laptop or PC

Bikes. Cobbles. Sweat and gears. The Paris-Roubaix bike race is the stuff of legend, one of the events on the racing calendar that’s both made and broken the strongest bike riders on the planet. With over 250km of racing encompassing some of the roughest cobbles that the French countryside can serve up, the 2022 Paris Roubaix is yet again set to produce one of the unmissable cycling spectacles of the year.

Now, 126 years after the first edition of the race, the 119th Paris Roubaix embarks this weekend. The Men’s race sets off at 10:15am on Sunday 17 April, and this is prefaced by the Women’s race, the Paris Roubaix Femmes on 16 April.

Paris-Roubaix 2022: The course

Paris Roubaix stands as one of the ‘Monuments’ of the racing calendar, a race of such enduring and legendary toughness that it earned the nickname The Hell of the North. It’s a gruelling event both physically for the riders and, thanks to the bone-shaking, tyre-shredding impact of riding cobbles at less-than-sensible speeds, also for the bikes themselves. Whether due to crashes, mechanicals or abandonment, 2021’s Men’s race saw only 96 of the 174 starters make it to the finish line.

This year’s Men’s course is near-identical to that of previous years: the riders embark from Compiegne just north of Paris and weave and judder their way through 257.2km of countryside roads peppered with just short of 55km of ancient cobbles, also known as pavé. The Paris-Roubaix Femmes race is slightly shorter at 124.7km and tackles just over 29km of cobbled sectors. Finally, the action accelerates to a sprint finish with one and a half laps of Roubaix’s outdoor velodrome, just a few kilometres from the Belgian border.

How to watch Paris-Roubaix 2022 for free

Various TV channels around the globe will be streaming the action from Paris Roubaix for free, but bear in mind that many of them won’t have English commentary. If you’re a linguaphone lucky enough to find yourself in a country with a free livestream or live TV broadcasts then just tune in, or you can stream these broadcasts from anywhere in the world by using one of our tried and tested VPNs further down the page.

Australia: SBS will be providing free coverage of all the cobbled action via its On Demand service. The Men’s race coverage starts from 18:20 AEST on Sunday April 17, and a replay of the women’s race follows at 20:25 AEST.

Watch on SBS On Demand


Italy: Enjoy all the live action and Italian commentary direct from Rai’s streaming service, RaiPlay.

Sign up to RaiPlay


France: Francophones should head straight to France 3’s site for a live stream and French commentary on all the racing from L’enfer du Nord.

Watch on France 3


How to watch Paris-Roubaix 2022 in the UK

GCN+: Global Cycling Network’s streaming service will be providing live coverage and unique commentary on all the racing action from Paris Roubaix. A monthly subscription is £6.99/month, or you can bag a year of bike racing coverage and documentary content for £39.99.

Subscribe to GCN+


Eurosport or Discovery+: Sky subscribers can get access to the racing with the Eurosport channels, but a cheaper option for everyone else is the new Discovery+ service, formerly known as Eurosport Player. A subscription costs £6.99/month and £59.99/year.

Subscribe to Discovery+


How to watch Paris-Roubaix 2022 in the US & Canada

Peacock (US-only): NBC’s streaming service will be delivering all the action from both the men’s and women’s races for US viewers. A standard subscription costs $4.99 per month or you can pay $10 per month for an ad-free subscription. The Men’s race kicks off on Sunday morning at 2.20am PDT / 5.20am EDT, with a replay of the Women’s race following on at 3.25am PDT / 6.25am EDT.

Subscribe to Peacock now


Flobikes (US & Canada): This streaming service provides access to a wide range of cycling events across both road and MTB disciplines, and it’s a great way to get access to the Paris Roubaix racing. A subscription comes in at a steep $150/year and there’s no option to pay monthly, but you can cancel at any time and get a refund on the remaining balance.

Subscribe to Flobikes now


How to watch Paris-Roubaix 2022 with a VPN

If you’re off on holiday or just stuck somewhere where the other streaming services aren’t natively available, then it’s time to invest in a VPN.

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network that allows your mobile device, laptop or PC to access the internet securely without revealing your location. For instance, if you want to browse and watch BBC iPlayer while you’re in the back of beyond without falling foul of the geofencing limitations, then just grab a subscription to one of our favourite VPNs below.

ExpressVPN: Our current favourite VPN pick for media streaming duties is ExpressVPN. It has 3,000 servers located in 94 countries across the globe, its performance is top-notch and it’s available at a huge discount from the link below.

Buy ExpressVPN now


NordVPN: NordVPN is our favourite all-purpose VPN. The combination of 24/7 support, a simple interface, great streaming performance and the peace of mind of a thirty-day money back guarantee are difficult to beat. Independent audits show that Nord doesn’t record or retain any of your user data, so you can surf safely, securely and anonymously.

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