What time is the 2018 Tour de France on TV in the U.S.?
By Zach Bigalke
The times change from day to day at the Tour de France. Here is a list of online and TV start times to make sure you don’t miss any of the action.
The Tour de France travels across varied terrain and on stages of different lengths from day to day. As a result, there is no single start time for each day’s action at the Tour de France. Some days the action starts before 5:00 am along the Atlantic seaboard and before 2:00 am on the Pacific coast.
Other days, many folks on the east coast will already be at work when the television coverage commences. Unlike sports that take place in arenas and stadiums, it is much harder to peg a regular start time for cycling stage races.
Thus following the Tour de France requires some vigilance on the part of fans, especially those in the United States. Whether one chooses to watch on NBC Sports Network or through one of the streaming apps that carry this year’s race, U.S. viewers will need to double-check nightly when the next day’s action starts.
To assist fans in this effort, we have compiled this chart of both online and TV start times for American viewers.
Start times for each Tour de France stage (all times listed Eastern)
| ROUTE | DATE | ONLINE START | TV START | TV CHANNEL | |
| Stage 1 | Noirmoutier-en-l’Île to Fontenay-le-Comte | July 7 | 4:40 a.m. | 5:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 2 | Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to La Roche-sur-Yon | July 8 | 7:00 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 3 | Cholet to Cholet (TTT) | July 9 | 9:00 a.m. | 9:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 4 | La Baule to Sarzeau | July 10 | 6:50 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 5 | Lorient to Quimper | July 11 | 6:10 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 6 | Brest to Mûr-de-Bretagne | July 12 | 6:50 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 7 | Fougères to Chartres | July 13 | 5:50 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 8 | Dreux to Amiens | July 14 | 5:20 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBC |
| Stage 9 | Arras to Roubaix | July 15 | 6:20 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 10 | Annecy to Le Grand-Bornand | July 17 | 7:00 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 11 | Albertville to La Rosière | July 18 | 7:50 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 12 | Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Alpe d’Huez | July 19 | 6:00 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 13 | Le Bourg-d’Oisans to Valence | July 20 | 7:20 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 14 | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Mende | July 21 | 6:50 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 15 | Millau to Carcassonne | July 22 | 7:00 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 16 | Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon | July 24 | 5:20 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 17 | Bagnères-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan | July 25 | 8:50 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 18 | Trie-sur-Baïse to Pau | July 26 | 7:40 a.m. | 8:00 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 19 | Lourdes to Laruns | July 27 | 5:50 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 20 | Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette (ITT) | July 28 | 5:50 a.m. | 7:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
| Stage 21 | Houilles to Paris (Champs-Élysées) | July 29 | 10:00 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | NBCSN |
Be sure to note that Stage 8 on Bastille Day will air live on NBC rather than NBC Sports Network. Most coverage begins on NBC Sports Gold and FuboTV prior to the TV start time, with the exception of the final stage into Paris.
Next: Tour de France 2018 route breakdown and highlights
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