 | |
| Country | Italy |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Italy United Kingdom |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Italian English |
| Picture format | 16:9 576i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Filmedia Bike Media UK Ltd. |
| History | |
| Launched | 12 February 2013 (Italy) 10 December 2015 (United Kingdom) |
Bike was a specialist sport television channel broadcasting on Sky Italia in Italy and Sky and Virgin in the United Kingdom. [1]
Bike Channel ceased airing in September 2017.
The channel launched in Italy on 12 February 2013 on Sky Italia. [2] After its successful launch in Italy, the channel began broadcasting in the United Kingdom on 10 December 2015.
In December 2016 it was announced that the channel would sponsor the new Bike Channel–Canyon cycling team for the 2017 season, with the channel broadcasting documentaries and "behind-the-scenes" content about the team. [3]
The announcement of the channel's UK launch included details of the races the station would cover live, which included the Tour de Suisse, the Tour de Romandie and Gent–Wevelgem. [4] Other races broadcast on the channel include Dwars door Vlaanderen, [5] the Vuelta a Burgos, [6] the Tour of Utah, [7] the Giro del Trentino, [8] Brabantse Pijl, [9] Scheldeprijs, [10] Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour des Fjords and the Brussels Cycling Classic. [11] In July 2016 it was announced that BIKE would air live coverage of the 2016 Tour of Britain that September. [12]
Kurt Asle Arvesen is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2011. Arvesen is from Eresfjord, Nesset. He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships five times, as well as stages in each of the three Grand Tours.
Andrei Tchmil is a retired Soviet, Moldovan (1992–1995), Ukrainian (1995–1998) and Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He competed in the men's individual road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
TVM was a Dutch road bicycle racing team. It folded in 2000, two years after suffering a doping scandal. Farm Frites continued as a sponsor in 2001 with the new team, Domo–Farm Frites–Latexco.
Johan De Muynck is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist who raced from 1971 to 1983. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1978 Giro d'Italia. He was an outstanding climber. Other Grand Tour highlights include a very strong performance in the closely contested 1976 Giro d'Italia where he held the Maglia Rosa until the final time trial finishing on the podium in 2nd just nineteen seconds behind Felice Gimondi. He also rode well in the 1980 and 1981 editions of the Tour de France where he finished 4th and 7th respectively. Going into the 2022 cycling season De Muynck is the last Belgian rider to win a Grand Tour.
Michel Pollentier is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer.
Alfons ("Fons") De Wolf is a retired Belgian road race cyclist, a professional from 1979 to 1990. He represented his country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Philippe Gilbert is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two riders, along with Davide Rebellin, to have won the three Ardennes classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège – in a single season, which he accomplished in 2011. Gilbert also finished the 2011 season as the overall winner of the UCI World Tour.
Eddy Planckaert is a former professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. In 1988, Planckaert enjoyed perhaps his best year by capturing the green jersey at the 1988 Tour de France and winning the Tour of Flanders. In 1990, he won Paris–Roubaix, his second monumental classic, with the closest finish in the race's history beating Canadian Steve Bauer by less than a cm. A strong sprinter, Planckaert is one of the riders with stage wins at all three cycling Grand Tours.
Wilfried Peeters is a former Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Nowadays, he is sportif director of the Quick Step team. During his cycling-career, he was a major help for Johan Museeuw in classics such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris–Roubaix.
Jean-Marie Wampers is a former professional road racing cyclist from Belgium. He was a professional between 1981 and 1992, achieving his greatest triumph when he won Paris–Roubaix in 1989.
Rik Van Linden is a Belgian former road bicycle racer. He won the points classification in the 1975 Tour de France, ahead of Eddy Merckx.
Dave Bruylandts is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. Bruylandts was tested positive for EPO use in 2004 and was banned for 18 months. Following his ban, Bruylandts briefly rode for Unibet.com in 2006 and for the UCI Continental team Klaipėda-Splendid Cyclingteam in 2007. Bruylandts is married to racing cyclist Femke Melis.
Davide Malacarne is an Italian former multi-discipline cyclist. He competed professionally in road racing between 2009 and 2016 for the Quick-Step, Team Europcar and Astana teams, won the junior race at the 2005 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, and rode in mountain biking for the DMT Racing team.
Rai Sport 2 was an Italian sports TV channel, launched on 18 May 2010 by the State-owned RAI television network. It broadcast Italian and international sports events in Italy on DTT channel 58 on Mux Rai 2. It was also available on Sky Italia and on IPTV.
Giacomo Nizzolo is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Israel–Premier Tech.
Danny van Poppel is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe.
Benny Van Brabant is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He rode in three editions of the Tour de France, two editions of the Giro d'Italia and six editions of the Vuelta a España.
2021 in women's road cycling is about the 2021 women's bicycle races ruled by the UCI and the 2021 UCI Women's Teams.