As the European Cross scene ramps up, Belgium puts cyclocross on television almost every weekend. Watching it from Britain should therefore be simple. Broadcasting rights have other ideas.
If you want to follow the UCI World Cup, Superprestige, X²O Badkamers Trofee and HG Cross from the UK this winter, there are several options – ranging from completely straightforward to distinctly grey.
Here’s the CX HUB guide.
The easiest legal option: TNT Sports.
For UK viewers, TNT Sports is the obvious starting point.
TNT Sports is available through HBO Max and, at the time of writing, costs a pricey £30.99 per month on a flexible subscription. There is also a cheaper monthly rate if you commit for a full year, although that probably makes less sense if cyclocross is your main reason for subscribing.
TNT has carried a substantial amount of European cyclocross in recent seasons, including World Cups, Superprestige and X²O Trophy races.
The important word is “substantial”, rather than “everything”.
Broadcast rights vary between competitions and occasionally between individual races, so it is worth checking the TNT schedule before paying solely to watch one particular event.
World Cups: TNT or UCI YouTube
UCI Cyclo-cross World Cups are generally among the easiest races to find.
When UK rights belong to TNT Sports, that is normally where British viewers will find them.
The UCI also broadcasts races through its own YouTube channel, sometimes free of charge. The catch is geo-blocking.
If another broadcaster owns the rights in Britain, the UCI stream may be unavailable here even though viewers in another country can watch exactly the same race for nothing.
So if a UCI YouTube link exists but tells you the video isn’t available in your region, your computer hasn’t developed a personal dislike of cyclocross. Somebody has bought the UK rights.
Superprestige and X²O Trophy
These are two of the staples of the Belgian winter and both have regularly been available through TNT Sports in Britain.
Superprestige includes many of the classic Belgian races, while the X²O Badkamers Trofee has its own season-long competition based around accumulated time rather than a conventional points table.
In Belgium, these races appear across broadcasters including VRT/Sporza, Telenet Play Sports and Proximus Pickx, depending on the competition and event.
For the UK viewer, TNT is usually the first place to check.
HG Cross and the attraction of Sporza
The former Exact Cross series has become HG Cross for 2026–27.
All seven HG Cross rounds are scheduled for live coverage on VRT Sporza in Belgium.
And this is where British cyclocross fans tend to start looking enviously across the North Sea.
Sporza is the sports service of Belgian public broadcaster VRT and provides extensive cycling coverage. Cyclocross, a national obsession, is treated as a major sport: live racing, interviews, build-up, analysis and Flemish commentary rather than somebody squeezing the final two laps in between other sports.
Coverage can appear through VRT 1, VRT Canvas, Sporza and the VRT MAX streaming service.
Better still, much of it is free to viewers in Belgium.
Unfortunately the UK fares less well.
Why can’t we just watch Sporza?
Because television rights are territorial.
VRT may have the right to show a race in Belgium without having the right to make that same broadcast freely available in Britain.
That means sporting coverage on VRT MAX and Sporza can be blocked when accessed from a UK internet connection.
Brexit has made the situation slightly more complicated too, because the UK is no longer covered by the same EU portability arrangements that allow eligible Belgian viewers to use some services while temporarily elsewhere in the EU.
Which leads to the question that inevitably follows.
What about a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can make an internet connection appear to originate from another country.
A UK viewer connecting through a Belgian VPN server may therefore appear to a website to be accessing it from Belgium.
VPNs themselves are perfectly legal in Britain and have many legitimate privacy and security uses.
Using one specifically to get around a broadcaster’s geographical restrictions, however, is more complicated. It may breach that broadcaster’s terms of service or the conditions under which its programmes are licensed.
It also isn’t guaranteed to work. Broadcasters can identify and block known VPN addresses, while some services require account, mobile-number or residency verification in addition to checking your physical location.
Good VPN services generally cost a few pounds a month on a long-term deal, although rolling monthly subscriptions can be £10 or more. Be wary of advertisements quoting something like “£2.49 per month” — that often means paying for one or two years upfront.
VPNs are legal in the UK, but using one to circumvent territorial broadcast restrictions may breach the terms of the streaming service concerned. CX HUB does not encourage readers to bypass broadcast rights and does not provide legal advice. Viewers should check the terms of the broadcaster or streaming service they intend to use.
That just about covers VPNs.
And unofficial streams?
Those exist too.
We don’t recommend them and we wouldn’t link to them.
Unauthorised streams can infringe broadcast rights and frequently come with another problem: websites filled with pop-ups, fake play buttons, dubious downloads and adverts that make you wonder whether watching an hour of cyclocross is really worth sacrificing your laptop.
If the website has six different PLAY NOW buttons, chances are at least five of them don’t lead to Mathieu van der Poel.
What should you check on race day?
The simplest routine is:
- TNT Sports/HBO Max — first stop for UK coverage.
- UCI YouTube — particularly for World Cups and championships, although streams may be geo-blocked.
- The official race or series website — often the quickest way to find the current broadcaster list.
- VRT/Sporza — especially useful for Belgian races and HG Cross, but normally subject to territorial restrictions in the UK.
- VPN services — a commonly discussed workaround, but one that comes with the terms-and-conditions caveat above.
The cost
If everything you want is available on TNT Sports, the simplest solution is currently £30.99 for a month.
If the UCI YouTube stream happens to be available in Britain, the price is considerably better: Nothing.
And somewhere in Belgium, somebody is probably watching the same race on Sporza for free while wondering why anyone would pay thirty quid to watch cyclocross.
Try not to think about that too much.
One final piece of advice
Broadcast rights change regularly.
A race available on TNT last season might move somewhere else. A UCI YouTube stream may be available in Britain one weekend and blocked the next. Belgian coverage can change between competitions.
So check before race day — preferably before the elite women are already two laps in.
Because few things are more frustrating than spending the first 20 minutes of a cyclocross race watching a spinning loading symbol while the rest of Europe is already arguing about tyre pressure.
