Looking for a way to watch the spring classics, and ideally the Giro. What are my options here? Is a paid service like Flobikes worth it or are there more economical options?
https://tiz-cycling.racing/homepage/
free. some ads.
www.tiz-cycling.com
free. some ads.
Link does not work 
https://www.fubo.tv/lp/giro/?irad=361812&irmp=1235874
TV channel RAI Italia America usually shows it but you have to pay extra.
NBC Sports Gold has Paris-Roubaix (a two-hour version is on NBC Sports Network…sometimes they have others), La Flech Wallone, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Criterium du Dauphine.
Bein Sports has some too although it isn’t currently available with Comcast/Xfinity as they squabble over a contract.
Looking for a way to watch the spring classics, and ideally the Giro. What are my options here? Is a paid service like Flobikes worth it or are there more economical options?
As far as I can remember, NBC Sports Gold gets you Roubaix, all three grand tours, and several other short stage races. Flobikes gets you the classics and most US based continental races. There are usually free broadcasts the day of the race, but most of the time they are cut off due to copyright issues once the action really starts happening. I got tired of that and ended up just subscribing to both those services. It’s also nice to be able to go back and watch the races I missed live.
Flobikes works well gets you most of the classics and the giro, if you add NBC gold you get them all. Also full replays after, which is nice.
VPN + Eurosportplayer
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There are ways to watch it free through reddit. Or if you have a private VPN through Eurosport you can get really good coverage, but that comes with a cost.
I was going to go the private VPN option this year, but decided to go with a combination of NBC Sports Gold and Flo Bikes. Total cost is like $180 annual. Not cheap, but I get pretty much every single race on the calendar between the two. Both work as apps with my Roku TV, so no need to hook my laptop up to the TV. Just pick up the remote, turn the TV on, and browse to races. They both have web options as well, so I can easily go to a friends house, log in, and watch. No need to bring my laptop that has the private VPN software installed.
If I had more free time and patience (or if I didn’t mind watching directly off my laptop at home), I would probably go the free/illegal way. But especially for stage races where I’d like to watch parts of each stage, setting up the laptop everyday with the TV, then finding the right stream gets to be a real PITA.
VPN + Eurosportplayer
this option apparently no longer works for new users; my account is on auto-renew, so i still get it, but new users (or those who discontinued in the interim) can no longer pay for it.
a shame really, as they have every single race one’d care to watch. And it is quite reasonable as well: $33/year for high speed VPN & $55/year for Eurosport
Looking for a way to watch the spring classics, and ideally the Giro. What are my options here? Is a paid service like Flobikes worth it or are there more economical options?
As far as I can remember, NBC Sports Gold gets you Roubaix, all three grand tours, and several other short stage races. Flobikes gets you the classics and most US based continental races. There are usually free broadcasts the day of the race, but most of the time they are cut off due to copyright issues once the action really starts happening. I got tired of that and ended up just subscribing to both those services. It’s also nice to be able to go back and watch the races I missed live.
NBC sports gold doesn’t get you the Giro. Flo Bikes (or Fubo TV) covers that…so if you’re all in for races the entire year, it’s a good option to combine the two.
If the OP is only interested in the Roubaix, La Fleche Wallone, LBL, and the Tour of California, then the NBC sports gold package is discounted to $20 right now. It’s because their subscription runs June 7th 2018 to June 10th 2019. Basically just before the Dauphine and TdF starts. Then look for a promo on Flobikes or Fubo TV for the Giro. Last year I signed up for Fubo TV for first 2 weeks free I think. So I waited until the first week of the Giro was over, signed up…watched all the replays of the first week, then watched the last 2 weeks day to day…then cancelled. If that’s still available, then for $20, the OP can get almost all the races from now to the Giro. Missing just the Amstel Gold, Tour of the Alpes, and Tour de Romandie…and of course Flanders this weekend.
You’re right about the Giro. Now that I think about it, I was associating it with Sports Gold because they sent a survey where they asked a question about the Giro.
I have really enjoyed Flobikes. I did Fubo the last couple of years for the Giro and had some issues, etc. but Flobike app has been perfect so far and many more races. I did not need all the other stuff on Fubo so like this is very much bike focused.
I pair with NBC Sports (Gold is now part of the normal app, you just login versus a seperate app). With that I get everything.
Only thing I don’t think is an option, or I have not figured it out, is ability to download. Would love to be able to watch on flights.
Hope that helps.
Fubo Cycling… keep re-upping the free trials, because there is no way I’m paying ~$85/month 
Pretty sure Bein has quit cycling, too bad - they had a few years of a good run.
Being on the West Coast, replay is important to me, I’m not often getting up at 4 or 5 am to watch bike racing. NBCSports covers the ASO races pretty well. Olympic Channel has a lot of UCI World Cup and World’s coverage. I have both of those on my cable.
Thinking about getting Flobikes, they do advertise $11.99/month if you pay annually. The bump to $29.99 if you pay monthly is pretty steep.