How to watch the 2022 UCI Road World Championships

The UCI Road World Championships run from 18 September to 25 September. This year, they’re being held in Wollongong, 100km south of Sydney, Australia. That means that they’re eight hours ahead of European time, nine hours ahead of UK time, 14 hours ahead of the US East Coast and a full 17 hours ahead of the West Coast.

Aussie cycling enthusiasts will be gleeful that it’s everyone else who has to be awake at ridiculous hours to watch the racing live, rather than themselves.

There are options to watch live in most countries, but if you value your sleep you can also usually watch on-demand. Here’s the lowdown on the race schedule and how to watch the Road World Championships in different countries.

There’s also the option to use a VPN to stream from a country with free terrestrial coverage, although most VPNs with decent geographic coverage and streaming speeds will require a subscription.

Road World Championships schedule

The individual time trials are done and dusted, with Ellen van Dijk a comprehensive winner for the Netherlands in the elite women’s race for the second year running. Norway’s Tobias Foss was a much more surprising men’s champion over the same 34km course.

The fourth-placed woman, Vittoria Guazzini from Italy, became the inaugural Under-23 UCI Women’s World Individual Time Trial champion.

Wales produced both winners in the junior individual time trials. Zoe Backstedt and Josh Tarling bettered last year’s silver medals to climb onto the top step of the podium.

Switzerland won the team time trial mixed relay on Wednesday propelled by individual time trial medallists Stefan Kung and Marlen Reusser.

Friday then saw Emil Herzog of Germany outsprint António Morgago of Portugal to take the men’s junior road race title. Yevgeniy Fedorov of Kazakhstan took gold in the men’s under 23 race.

Those in the northern hemisphere awoke on Sunday to see that an injured Annemiek Van Vleuten stun the Worlds, taking an unexpected win despite riding with a broken elbow. Niamh Fisher-Black took gold for New Zealand in the women’s U23 race.

The curse of the rainbow jersey has finally struck Julian Alaphilippe this season, leaving La Vuelta a España winner Remco Evenepoel the hot favourite. But the precocious Belgian will have to see off countryman Wout van Aert and Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar, back to winning ways after Tour de France disappointment.

Viewing options UK

In the UK, the BBC is showing highlights on BBC2 and streaming the action live on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, as well as via the Red Button for some events.

• Sunday 18/9/22 
• Wednesday 21/9/22 
• Saturday 24/9/22 
• Sunday 25/9/22

You can also watch live or on-demand on GCN+, Eurosport and Discovery+.

The events are covered across Europe too, except in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Italy. There are both short and extended highlights in all except these countries and France. Short highlights are also available to GCN+ subscribers in other countries.

Viewing options USA

In the US, you can watch the World Championships live and on-demand with a subscription to Flobikes.

Viewing options Australia

In Australia, the World Championships women’s and men’s elite road races will be covered free-to-air on Nine Network. There’s live and on-demand ad-free coverage of the full racing schedule with a subscription to Stan Sport.