The curtain comes down on the WorldTour season this weekend as the world's top riders take on Giro di Lombardia. This year's race marks the 116th edition of 'Race of the Falling Leaves' and stands as the fifth and final Monument of the season. Make sure you know how to watch an Il Lombardia live stream for free from wherever you are in the world.
Date: Saturday 8th October 2022
Expected finish time: 4pm GMT / 11am ET
FREE stream: Rai Play (Italy)
Watch anywhere: ExpressVPN
UK stream: Eurosport Player (£6.99/month)
US/Aus stream: GCN+ ($8.99/month)
The 253km lake and mountains lined route from Bergamo to Como is arguably the most beautiful course in cycling. It nevertheless features some of the most agonising climbs that the riders will have likely faced this season, with a grinding 4800m of elevation gain.
Last year's winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) will be gunning for glory once more, but the biggest headlines will be saved for home turf hero Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) if he can pick up his third title here and sign-off his cycling career in style.
Those in Italy can watch for free on Rai and RaiPlay. Italians away from home should make sure they know how to watch a free Il Lombardia live stream from abroad with a VPN.
Il Lombardia 2022 route & teams
1 UAE Team Emirates
2 AG2R Citroën Team
3 Alpecin-Deceuninck
Click to see full Il Lombardia teams list
4 Astana Qazaqstan Team
5 Bahrain - Victorious
6 Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè
7 BORA - hansgrohe
8 Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
9 Cofidis
10 Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli
11 EF Education-EasyPost
12 EOLO-Kometa
13 Groupama - FDJ
14 INEOS Grenadiers
15 Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux
16 Israel - Premier Tech
17 Jumbo-Visma
18 Lotto Soudal
19 Movistar Team
20 Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
21 Team Arkéa Samsic
22 Team BikeExchange - Jayco
23 Team DSM
24 TotalEnergies
25 Trek - Segafredo
Il Lombardia free live stream
Cycling fans in Italy can catch Il Lombardia for free on Rai Sport and the Rai Play streaming service. Simply create an account and sign in.
Travelling away from Italy this week? You can always use a VPN to access RaiPlay from wherever you are. We recommend ExpressVPN. Details below.
How to watch Il Lombardia from abroad using a VPN
Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Il Lombardia rights holders, you won't be able to use them when outside your own country. The service will know your location based on your IP address, and will automatically block your access.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps you get around this obstacle. A VPN creates a private connection between your device and the internet, such that the servers and services you’re accessing aren’t aware of what you’re doing. All the information passing back and forth is entirely encrypted.
There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN which we rate as the best VPN service. It offers a 100 percent risk-free money back guarantee. If you're not happy with the service any time within the first 30-days, then you can cancel with no penalties at all.
How to use a VPN
Using a VPN is incredibly simple.
1. Install the VPN of your choice. ExpressVPN is the one we recommend.
2. Open up the VPN app and choose the location of the service you wish to access. For the Milan-San Remo cycling, you may wish to choose 'Italy' to access Rai Play.
3. Then head over to Rai Play on your browser or device and enjoy a free Il Lombardia live stream.
If, for whatever reason, you can't get it working, then do remember that you have the comfort of a 30-day money back guarantee with ExpressVPN. You could also try NordVPN, which also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, and Surfshark which offers 24 hour assistance.
Il Lombardia live stream in the UK
Il Lombardia will be aired live across the UK and Europe via Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Subscription costs from £6.99 a month or £39.99 a year.
If you happen to be outside the UK this weekend, simply use a VPN to access Eurosport as without being location blocked. We recommend ExpressVPN because it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support.
Il Lombardia live stream in the US, Canada and Australia
GCN+ is the place to see the 2022 Il Lombardia in the USA, Canada and Australia.
The specialist streaming service costs just $8.99 a month or $49.99 a year in the US.
That includes live and uninterrupted coverage of men's and women's pro-cycling throughout the season, plus GCN+ originals.
Remember, you can use a VPN to access any local live stream when travelling away from home.
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