Airdate: Tour de France 2016

Next month (on election night for that matter) Tour de France returns for its 26th year on SBS.

The feast of sport and scenic backdrops will form over 200 hours of coverage and nightly live broadcasts direct from France, plus visits to Spain, Andorra and Switzerland.

As well as airing every stage Live and in HD, SBS has additional coverage throughout each racing day. It will include hour-long highlights each morning at 7am and again at 5pm on SBS, as well as stage replays from 1pm on SBS, and 3pm on SBS 2.

The SBS commentary team will be led in France by Michael Tomalaris, covering his 21st Tour, joined by three time green jersey winner Robbie McEwen, Giro d’Italia stage winner Dave McKenzie, and former Tour de France rider Henk Vogels.

New for 2016, Robbie McEwen will join Matthew Keenan in commentary at the start of each stage, before handing over to the voices of cycling Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen for the last 50km of each stage.

Chef Gabriel Gate returns for a Taste Le Tour segment, each night before racing begins on SBS.

The Tour de France will take over the Cycling Central website for the month of July, offering news, opinion, stats, highlights and video on demand. The team will also deliver a weekly podcast, rounding up the best of the race.

The Skoda Tour Tracker app returns, streaming live pictures and allowing viewers to select up to 5 individual moto camera feeds to enhance the viewing experience. Real time data, stage profiles and catch up video complete the comprehensive offering.

The 2016 Tour de France is a blockbuster with cycling’s biggest names; 2015 winner Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana, and Fabio Aru lining up for a shot at the overall winner’s Yellow Jersey. Sprint stars Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel, Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan are set to light up the battle for the Green Jersey.

Australian viewers will be full of anticipation as Aussie Richie Porte captains a team for the first time, riding for BMC Racing Team this year after a stint at Team Sky as Chris Froome’s right hand man. Other Aussies to watch are Rohan Dennis who won an individual stage at last year’s Tour, sprinter Michael Matthews, and Simon Gerrans.

In 2016, the Tour de France starts at the famed picturesque historical site Mont Saint Michel in the north of France.

Nine mountain stages are spread throughout the three weeks, and avoid a traditional Alps and Pyrenees pattern to build suspense and inject fresh excitement into the race. A summit finish on Mont Ventoux, rated as one of France’s most difficult climbs, and the place where Chris Froome crushed rivals in 2013 the last time this iconic climb was included in the route, falls on Bastille Day, July 14.

There are two tough individual time trials and visits to Spain, Andorra and Switzerland, before the Tour rolls on to the Champs-Élysées in Paris to complete a total 3,519 kilometres of racing.