Up until only recently, Canadian cycling fans had two streaming choices, GCN+ and Flobikes, to view professional races.
Another option is to use a VPN to access streaming services in other countries. There are numerous other articles about this option so I won’t be discussing this option. For example see the Mashable post here.
Since GCN+ and Flobikes did not overlap coverage of races, you had to subscribe to both services to watch all of the major races during the cycling calendar in Canada.
Flobikes streamed most of the races taking place in Belgium, Spain and France, including the Tour de France and Volta a Espana. These were mostly the races organized by the ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation). GCN+, meanwhile streamed many of the races from Italy, including the Giro d’Italia.
Another difference between the two was the price. Flobikes cost $150 US per year ($204 CAD); or $30 US ($41 CAD), if you wanted to subscribe on a month-by-month basis. GCN+, while not offering as many races, was quite a lot cheaper at $68 (CAD) annually or $12 (CAD) per month, and thus arguably, offered a better value for your money.
Last December it was announced that GCN+ and the GCN App would be shutting down. Apparently, the decision was made by its parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD). It was later announced that at least for US cycling fans, former GCN+ coverage will be available on WBD’s MAX streaming service. Since, MAX is not available in Canada, there did not seem to be an option available for Canadians to view the races previously streamed by GCN+.
Then at the beginning of March, I noticed that Flobikes started listing races previously only available on GCN+, on its upcoming viewing schedule.
I had previously subscribed to Flobikes to watch the men’s and women’s Tour de France (see previous post) but stopped my subscription due to the high cost of the service ($204 CAD) for the annual plan. At the time there was no monthly option. Flobikes has since introduced a monthly subscription option at $41 CAD.
Last year since I wanted to watch the Giro d’Italia, I also subscribed to GCN+ for one month ($11.99 per month) which was quite a reasonable price.
As I further checked the Flobikes website I noticed that many of the Italian races were now on their schedule, including the Giro d’Italia as well as the monument races (Milan- San Remo and Tour of Lombardy). Despite the expanded coverage, the price of the annual plan on Flobikes remained the same at $204 CAD.
Given the increased number of races being streamed on Flobikes, an annual subscription now seemed to offer better value. Therefore, just before the Milan-San Remo race, I subscribed to the Flobikes annual plan. I have since enjoyed Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico races and am looking forward to the Giro d’Italia in May and the Tour of Slovenia (for personal reasons) in June. All of these races being previously only available on GCN+.
As of the writing of this post, I have watched many races (including: Paris-Nice, Milano-Sanremo, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and Gent-Wevelgem). I have watched races on my Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and computer. Thus far, I can report that: the quality of streaming was for the most part very good; the commentators were professional and knowledgeable; and there were only a few advertisements (usually only at the beginning of the stream). The number of ads will likely increase for more popular races such as the Tour de France as I had noted in my previous post. I did notice that the video coverage on some of the races (especially Italian races) did not always coincide with the audio commentary; I suspect that Flobikes only has access to race coverage and not some of the video clips added by Eurosport and MAX.
Given the number of races on the Flobikes schedule, the cost per race of this service might actually be worth it for you. Also, consider that an annual Flobikes subscription is about the same price as a Standard Plan on Netflix.
Do you think the added content on Flobikes makes it worthwhile? Let me know what you think.
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