Road racing is back, and the new season is approaching as the Tour Down Under, the opening race of the 2024 World Tour, will be held from January 16 to 21.

The 2024 Women's World Tour also kicks off this month, with the Women's Tour Down Under taking place from January 12-14.

Cycling News will bring you all the race reports, analysis, and news before, during, and after the races as the big names head to Australia to open the new season.

The Tour Down Under will be broadcast live in Europe and around the world.

In the six-day men's race, with the famous Willunga Hill finish on stage 5, Filippo Ganna and Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and top riders such as Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).

On the men's side, home favorites include Caleb Yuan (Jayco Aroura), Sam Welsford (Beulah-Hansgrohe), and Jack Hague (Bahrain Victorious).

Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) returns to defend her title in the women's 3-day race. She will be joined on the French team by Evita Mujic and Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig.

Others on the starting line include Amanda Spratt (Riddle Trek), Audrey Cordon-Lagotto (Human Powered Health), Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon SRAM), and Liv Jaico Aroura's pair of Alexandra Manley, and Ruby Roseman-Gannon, are some of the big names in the lineup.

Check here for a complete guide to all the races in Australia.

The men's and women's Tour Down Under will be broadcast by FloBikes in North America. Viewing fees are US$149.99/$150 Canadian per year or US$29.99/$29 Canadian per month.

In the U.S., NBC and its streaming service PeacockTV will also broadcast both races.

In the UK, live coverage of both races will continue to be broadcast through Eurosport and Discovery+.

A "standard" subscription to Discovery+, which includes Eurosport's cycling coverage, costs £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year. The package includes year-round cycling streams as well as other live sports such as snooker, tennis, motorsports, and the Paris Olympics.

The premium subscription includes all of these plus TNT sports (Premier League, Champions League, Europa League soccer, rugby, wrestling, UFC, and MotoGP) for an additional £29.99 per month.

Live Australian coverage is available through the Seven Network.

Eurosport has broadcast rights in various European and Asian countries. For France, Denmark and Spain, you can watch L'Equipe, TV2 and RTVE respectively.

If you are outside your region and need access to a live streaming service to watch the Tour Down Under, you may find that access is regionally restricted.

In this case, a VPN service can come in handy, making it appear as if your computer is at home, allowing you to log into your streaming account and catch all of the racing action.

Our colleagues at TechRadar thoroughly tested several VPN services and came up with some great recommendations below.

Some other very good options that are secure, reliable, and offer good bandwidth for streaming sports are NordVPN and the budget option Surfshark.