The Track Cycling World Championships 2026 run October 14 to 18 in Shanghai. BBC Two and iPlayer show the weekend free in the UK, FloBikes has it live in the US with a subscription. Here is where to watch, when the finals start and how to get iPlayer from abroad.
The Track Cycling World Championships 2026 run from Wednesday, October 14, to Sunday, October 18, at the Shanghai Velodrome on Chongming Island. Twenty-two rainbow jerseys are at stake, 11 for men and 11 for women, plus the first points toward qualification for the LA 2028 Olympics. According to the Shanghai city government, it’s the event’s first visit to mainland China.
In the UK, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer show the weekend live and free. In the US, FloBikes has it live with a subscription, according to USA Cycling. Shanghai is seven hours ahead of London and 12 ahead of New York, so the evening finals land around lunchtime in Britain and before breakfast on the East Coast. On Sunday the last session starts at 6:30 a.m. BST, which is 1:30 a.m. ET.
The catch: iPlayer only plays inside the UK. If you’re British and on vacation or working abroad that week, the stream won’t start. Here’s who shows what, the finals day by day, the favorites and the fix for iPlayer abroad.
As of October 8, 2026, the UCI hasn’t published its broadcaster list. Here’s what’s confirmed.
Country | Where to watch | Free? |
|---|---|---|
UK | BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, live Sat and Sun | Yes |
USA | FloBikes, live | No, subscription |
Ireland | Not announced yet | Not known yet |
Canada | Not announced yet | Not known yet |
Australia | Not announced yet | Not known yet |
The BBC iPlayer live windows are Saturday, October 17, from 10:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. BST, and Sunday, October 18, from 4:00 to 5:30 a.m. and again from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. BST. Wednesday to Friday aren’t on the BBC One or BBC Two schedules, and iPlayer coverage for those days isn’t announced yet. Keep an eye on the BBC Two TV guide.
According to Team GB, the championships are also on TNT Sports and HBO Max, both paid. Canada has nothing confirmed. In Australia, SBS On Demand only lists the World Cup round in Perth so far. In Ireland, neither RTÉ nor TG4 has announced anything.
Yes, in some countries. In the UK, BBC Two and iPlayer are free to watch on Saturday and Sunday. In the Netherlands, public broadcaster NOS streams all five days for free, fitting for a country that won nine titles in 2025.
Then there’s YouTube. The UCI usually streams its world championships live on its own YouTube channel, except in countries where a TV partner holds the rights. Team GB says this year’s event will be there too, geo-blocked. The list of blocked countries isn’t out yet, so whether it plays where you are is still open.
Free coverage is tied to territory. BBC iPlayer says you need to be in the UK to stream, because of rights agreements. A British fan in Lisbon that weekend gets an error message instead of the madison. That’s where a VPN comes in.
If you live in the UK and travel during the championships, a VPN connects you through a server in the UK. BBC iPlayer then sees a UK connection and plays BBC Two live, as at home. Set it up before Saturday morning.
| VPN Service | Price | BBC iPlayer | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SurfsharkBEST | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | October 4 | Try it |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | October 4 | Open |
 ExpressVPN | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | October 5 | Open |
 CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ✓ Works | October 2 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ✓ Works | October 5 | Open |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ✓ Works | October 5 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ✓ Works | October 1 | Open |
✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ WorksRankings in the table are based on StreamFix data, and our methodology explains how we score them.
Pick a VPN from the table above and install the app on the phone, laptop or TV you’ll watch on.
Connect to a server in the UK.
Open BBC iPlayer and sign in with your usual account.
Choose BBC Two live on Saturday or Sunday and watch the finals.
A VPN is a legal tool in both the UK and the US. If you want to compare services side by side first, our VPN comparison has the full picture.
Session times come from the UCI program of September 23 and the technical guide of October 5. The program is subject to change, and times of individual finals are our estimates from the running order, so treat them as approximate. Finals times are ET; add five hours for UK time.
Day | Finals and times |
|---|---|
Wed Oct 14 | Session 6:30 to 8:37 a.m. ET (11:30 a.m. to 1:37 p.m. BST). Women’s scratch around 6:59, team sprint finals around 7:55 (women) and 8:05 (men) |
Thu Oct 15 | Session 5:00 to 8:35 a.m. ET (10:00 a.m. to 1:35 p.m. BST). Men’s team pursuit around 6:00, women’s elimination 6:30, men’s keirin 7:25, men’s scratch 7:30, women’s team pursuit 7:48 |
Fri Oct 16 | Session 5:00 to 9:04 a.m. ET (10:00 a.m. to 2:04 p.m. BST). Men’s points race around 5:05, men’s kilo 6:37, men’s individual pursuit 7:15, women’s sprint final from 7:30, women’s omnium points race 7:40 |
Sat Oct 17 | Session 5:30 to 9:15 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. BST). Women’s kilo around 5:35, women’s madison 6:17, women’s individual pursuit 7:59, men’s omnium points race 8:23 |
Sun Oct 18 | Session 1:30 to 5:23 a.m. ET (6:30 to 10:23 a.m. BST). Men’s sprint final from 1:49, women’s points race around 1:59, men’s elimination 2:45, women’s keirin 3:44, men’s madison 4:03 |
Sunday starts earlier: the last session begins at 1:30 p.m. in Shanghai, so it’s all over by mid-morning in the UK. Sprint finals are best of three, so Friday’s women’s final can run until around 8:40 a.m. ET.
Saturday’s window, 10:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. BST, covers the whole finals session, including the women’s madison and the women’s kilo. On Sunday, the 4:00 a.m. slot picks up the morning qualifying and the 6:30 a.m. slot runs through all five finals, ending with the men’s madison, which starts around 9:03 a.m. BST. Wednesday to Friday, nothing on BBC TV so far.
The Netherlands dominated the 2025 championships in Santiago, Chile, with nine titles. Great Britain won four, Italy two, and seven more nations one each. At least four of those champions will not defend: Elia Viviani (men’s elimination) has retired, Albert Torres (men’s omnium) is not in Spain’s team, Lara Gillespie skips the elimination race, and the Dutch federation did not enter Harrie Lavreysen in the kilo.
Lavreysen won four titles in Santiago, the first rider ever to do that at one championships, and now has a record 20 world titles. On October 7 the Dutch federation KNWU named him for the team sprint, sprint and keirin. Then there’s Matthew Richardson. He lost the 2025 sprint final to Lavreysen, beat him in both the sprint and the keirin at the European Championships in Konya in February, and won the World Cup sprints in Perth and Hong Kong. Lavreysen hit back by winning the sprint at the World Cup final in Nilai in April.
Among the women, Hetty van de Wouw won three titles in 2025, including the kilo in a world record of 1:03.121. Mina Sato of Japan won the keirin in 2024 and 2025. Olympic champion Emma Finucane, twice second in Santiago, is the reigning European sprint champion.
Our take: Sunday’s men’s sprint final is the race of the week, and we lean Lavreysen, narrowly. In the keirin, Richardson’s 2026 form makes him our pick.
Lorena Wiebes won the scratch and the omnium in 2025 and is entered in both again, plus the madison and the team pursuit. Italy defends the women’s team pursuit, Denmark the men’s, and Belgians Lindsay De Vylder and Fabio Van den Bossche the men’s madison. Lotte Kopecky won three European titles in February and is in Belgium’s team.
Britain’s women set a team pursuit world record of 4:03.634 in Konya, and Josie Knight set one in the individual pursuit, 4:19.461. Our pick for the women’s team pursuit is Britain. Traveling that weekend? The top VPN from our table gets iPlayer running.
Britain won the most medals in Santiago: four gold, eight silver, two bronze. Josh Charlton became the first British individual pursuit world champion since Bradley Wiggins, Joshua Tarling won the points race, and Anna Morris defended her individual pursuit title, now over 4 km, with Josie Knight second. Katie Archibald and Madelaine Leech won the women’s madison, Archibald’s seventh rainbow jersey. In Konya, Britain won seven European titles. We couldn’t confirm Britain’s squad for Shanghai, so read this as form, not a start list.
Lara Gillespie won the elimination race in 2025, Ireland’s first world title since Martyn Irvine in 2013. In Shanghai she rides the scratch, omnium and points race, alongside Aoife O’Brien, Emma Jeffers, Fiona Mangan and Esther Wong.
USA Cycling named 17 riders. Headline: two-time world individual pursuit champion Taylor Phinney comes out of retirement for the team pursuit, next to 19-year-old Ashlin Barry, the new U23 road world champion. Kristen Faulkner is in, Chloé Dygert is not. Peter Moore (points race silver in 2025) and Anders Johnson (individual pursuit bronze) are in. No male sprinters made the team.
Canada brings Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell for the sprint and keirin, and Nick Wammes on the men’s side. Australia named 16 riders, including Leigh Hoffman, who won three medals in 2025. Its men’s team pursuit took silver behind Denmark last year.
An error saying iPlayer only works in the UK means a geo-block. Connect the VPN from our table to a UK server.
Still blocked? Switch to another UK server and reload the page or restart the app.
Clear your browser cache or open a private window, so iPlayer picks up your new location.
Right day? BBC Two is live only on Saturday and Sunday. Wednesday to Friday aren’t on BBC TV so far.
Test early: open iPlayer on Friday, or at least 15 minutes before Saturday’s 10:15 a.m. BST start.
Put Sunday, October 18, in your calendar: the men’s sprint and the men’s madison close the championships between 6:30 and 10:30 a.m. BST, live and free on BBC Two. Abroad that morning? The VPN from our table gets iPlayer back in time for the first heat.
Planning ahead? Browse streaming services in the UK, and if you travel a lot, our guide to UK streaming services from anywhere. American readers can check US streaming services, or see all the streaming platforms we track. More free live sport this month: the European Table Tennis Championships 2026. The Rugby League World Cup also starts on October 15 in Australia. Here’s where to watch the Rugby League World Cup 2026, with kickoff times for the UK, the US and Australia.
BBC iPlayerOnly in the United Kingdom1 of 194tracked countriesIn the UK, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer show Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, live and free. In the US, FloBikes has live coverage with a subscription, according to USA Cycling. For Ireland, Canada and Australia no broadcaster had been announced as of October 8, 2026.
Yes, on the weekend. BBC Two is live on Saturday from 10:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. BST and on Sunday from 4:00 to 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. BST. Wednesday to Friday are not on the BBC One or BBC Two schedules so far.
Yes, in some places. BBC iPlayer streams the weekend free in the UK, and NOS streams all five days free in the Netherlands. The UCI usually streams on its YouTube channel too, except in countries with a TV partner, but the list of blocked countries for Shanghai was not out as of October 8.
The finals sessions start between 10:00 and 11:30 a.m. BST, or 5:00 to 6:30 a.m. ET, from Wednesday to Saturday. Sunday is earlier: 6:30 a.m. BST, 1:30 a.m. ET, with the last race, the men’s madison, around 9:03 a.m. BST.
If you normally watch BBC iPlayer at home in the UK, connect a VPN from our table to a UK server, open iPlayer and sign in as usual. iPlayer then sees a UK connection and plays BBC Two live on Saturday and Sunday.
Yes. A VPN is a legal tool in both the UK and the US, and people use it at home and on the road to connect through a server in another country.
In the sprint events, Harrie Lavreysen, with 20 world titles, and Matthew Richardson, who beat him in the sprint and keirin at the European Championships. Among the women, Hetty van de Wouw, Mina Sato and Emma Finucane. Britain’s women hold the team pursuit world record.
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