Fleche, Liege-Bastogne-Liege round out Classics season on SBS

For the first time since 2016, SBS will broadcast the major men’s Italian Classics with Strade Bianche joining the women’s event in what is a packed catalogue of one-day cycling.

(L to R) Strade Bianche, Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo

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cycling events in the world on SBS On Demand

, with the Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes and much more.

SBS will bring a smorgasbord of one-day classics cycling to Australian audiences in the European spring starting with Strade Bianche men’s and women’s races and encompassing the monuments of Milan-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The addition of Strade Bianche and Milan-Sanremo will mark the first time since 2016 that the races have been broadcast on SBS.

Milan-Sanremo is a monument with a rich history for Australians, with Matt Goss (2011) and Simon Gerrans (2012) both winning the race and Stuart O’Grady (2004), Allan Davis (2007), Michael Matthews (2015, 2020) and Caleb Ewan (2018, 2021) all finishing on the podium.

The race is regarded as the monument for the sprinters, though the course has lent itself to late breakaways in recent years, with lone riders triumphing in the last three editions.

The race still attracts the cream of the top crop of sprinters, and will do so again in 2024, with Jasper Philipsen, Caleb Ewan, Biniam Girmay, Mads Pedersen and Arnaud De Lie all on the provisional start list.

Strade Bianche, referred to as the ‘unofficial sixth monument’, is a dynamic race with growing prestige within the cycling world, with the white roads of Tuscany for which the race is named giving a distinctive character to the event.

Men’s and Women’s winners generally come from the classics specialists and climbers, with climbers like Megan Guarnier and Tadej Pogacar, and classics riders like Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak and Fabian Cancellara all winning and demonstrating the difference in potential victors in Siena.

SBS will continue to show the pick of the action from the cobbled classics and the Ardennes as well, with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix the jewels of the cobbled races in Belgium and northern France respectively. Then the racing switches to the Ardennes, with Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege all captivating events with some of the best-known set pieces in cycling.

The classics season ends with men’s teams at Eschborn-Frankfurt, the German classic, or ‘Radklassiker’, an underrated event that saw a fascinating finish last season with a long-range attack holding off the sprinters’ teams in the peloton, seeing Soren Kragh Andersen take the victory.

It is of course, not just the classics on SBS, with the stage races of Paris-Nice and Volta Catalunya important markers for general classification favourites leading into the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d'Italia, which will also be shown on SBS.

How to watch the Classics races of the 2024 cycling season on SBS

Saturday, March 16

Milan-Sanremo

7:45pm - 3:30am (AEDT)

LIVE via SBS On Demand (LIVE on SBS from 11:00pm)

Sunday, March 24

Gent Wevelgem - Men's Race

11:40pm - 2:45am (AEDT)

LIVE on SBS and SBS On Demand

Monday, March 25

Gent Wevelgem - Women's Race

2:00am - 4:00am (AEDT)

LIVE on SBS and SBS On Demand

Monday, March 25

Gent Wevelgem - Women's Race

3:00am - 4:15am (AEDT)

LIVE on SBS and SBS On Demand

Sunday, March 31

Tour of Flanders - Men's Race

7:55pm - 2:30am (AEDT)

LIVE on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand

Monday, April 1

Tour of Flanders - Women's Race

1:00am - 4:20am (AEDT)

LIVE on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand

Sunday, April 7

Paris-Roubaix - Women's Race

12:15am - 3:00am (AEST)

LIVE on SBS and SBS On Demand

Paris-Roubaix - Men's Race

7:05pm - 1:50am (AEST)

LIVE on SBS and SBS On Demand

Sunday, April 14

Amstel Gold Race Women’s

9:00pm -10:30pm (AEST)