The ‘Tour de France Unchained’ Netflix documentary has dropped and the debate has begun about the qualities of the series as people around the world start to watch the eight-episode series.
The EF Education-EasyPost team described the series as “Unflinching, ambitious, and beautifully shot” but they would, since they star in it and team manager Jonathan Vaughters is convinced it can give his sponsors extra visibility or even bring in new ones.
Sporza in Belgium were less impressed, quick to dub the series ‘Cycling for Dummies’, criticising the simplistic nature of the storytelling, while overlooking the fact that not everyone has raced a bike or has years of Flemish cycling culture ingrained in their minds.
Cyclingnews binged watched the eight episodes on Thursday morning with a critical eye, while understanding the series’ wider aim of attracting new viewers to professional cycling and new fans to the sport, which worked so effectively for Formula 1 and Drive to Survive.
The combination of slick and fast editing, the constant showing of crashes and pain, the heightened drama levels and frequent background music left us a little nauseous, as if we had eaten too much Haribo on a hot day. But ‘Tour de France Unchained’, as the producers hoped and planned, is very addictive and entertaining to watch, whatever your level of understanding of the sport.
Eight carefully scripted episodes
The eight episodes are an excellent way to look back at the 2022 Tour de France and better comprehend what happened both out on the road and behind the scenes on every stage.
Each episode is carefully scripted to fit a simplistic, feel-good narrative, following the Drive to Survive formats. But they also capture the tensions and rivalries within teams and the peloton, the thrill of road racing, the emotions of success and the pain of defeat.
Watching Grand Tour racing live on television can be far less entertaining, with long waits for the most dramatic moments. Tour de France Unchained packages the action and splices it with interviews to create an intense and addictive summary. It’s like switching on Milan-San Remo from the foot of the Cipressa rather than appreciating and understanding the impact of the long ride from Milan.
The eight episodes remind us just how good the 2022 Tour de France was, from the…
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