The final Monument of the 2024 season is upon us with Il Lombardia taking place on Saturday, October 12.
We have all the information on how to watch the race, which runs for 252km from Bergamo to Como, including free-to-air options and VPN streaming options.
The race is the culmination of the Italian Autumn Classics, bringing together a host of the top climbers in the peloton for the final time this season as they tackle a challenging and mountainous route including the Passo di Ganda, Madonna del Ghisallo and the Colma di Sormano.
World champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) will be aiming to make it four Il Lombardia wins in a row. He'll be facing off against Enric Mas (Movistar), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), among others.
Route for the 2024 Il Lombardia (Image credit: RCS Sport)
How to watch Il Lombardia on TV or live streaming for free
Il Lombardia will be aired for free in Italy on Rai Play.
If you live or are on holiday in this country, then enjoy the month of racing with no subscription fees to pay. However, if you're away from home on holiday during the racing then it's possible to keep up with the racing without shelling out for a local streaming subscription.
A VPN could solve your problem, and we have all the information on how to watch the action using a VPN below.
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Il Lombardia live in the USA
Il Lombardia will be aired by Max in the USA. A subscription to the service will set you back $10 per month or $100 per year with ads, $16/$150 for an ad-free experience, or $200 per year for the 'Ultimate' package, which includes additional devices and 4k resolution where available.
In addition to that, you'll need to pay for the B/R Sports add-on, which costs an extra $10 per month.
Il Lombardia live in Canada
Il Lombardia is live on Discovery+ in Canada. A subscription will set you back $5.99 per month, while a subscription to the ad-free version costs $8.99 per month.
Il lombardia live in the UK
Il Lombardia is live on TV on Eurosport and Discovery+.
A 'standard' subscription to Discovery+, which includes Eurosport's cycling coverage, will set you back £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. The package includes year-round cycling streams as well as other live sports, including snooker, tennis, motorsports, and more.
A premium subscription, which includes all that plus TNT Sports (Premier League, Champions League and Europa League football plus rugby, wrestling, UFC, and MotoGP), costs an additional £29.99 per month.
Il Lombardia live around the world
For a local feel and full Italian-language coverage of the race, head to Rai Play.
Watch Il Lombardia live on any streams
If you are outside of your home region and need to access your live streaming services to watch the action, you may find your access to be geo-restricted.
In this case, a VPN service will come in handy, allowing your computer to pretend it's home and let you log into your streaming accounts to catch all of the racing action.
Our colleagues at TechRadarthoroughly tested several VPN services and came up with a few great recommendations below.
1. NordVPN - get the world's favorite VPN We've put all the major VPNs through their paces and we rate NordVPN as the best for streaming Netflix as our top pick, thanks to its speed, ease of use and strong security features. It's also compatible with just about any streaming device out there, including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation, as well as Android and Apple mobiles.
There are a couple other very good options that are safe, reliable and offer good bandwidth for streaming sports. Check out two other top options below - ExpressVPN and the best budget option, Surfshark.
2. Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There's 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up.
Currently topping our charts as the fastest VPN around, Surfshark keeps giving us reasons to recommend it. It's a high-value, low-cost option that's easy to use, full of features, and excellent at unblocking restricted content.
With servers in over 100 countries, you can stream your favorite shows from almost anywhere. Best of all, Surfshark costs as little as $2.30 per month, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee to try it out.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
