The Racer

Its properbly not a 100% true insight of a Tour De France racing team, but it gives an insight of the dramas and the doping in a team. This takes place in Ireland 1998 where the Tour begins. And we follow a man in a team during the first three races in Ireland, before the Tour continues in France. Its a fairly good movie with lots of drama, and there is also room for a little love story :-) See it as a movie, and not as a documentary.

If you are interested in the Tour De France and its whereabouts, about the hidden things around it, or interested in cycling races in general, this film is definitely for you. I loved THE PROGRAM, back in 2015, about Lance Armstrong; and also loved CONTRE LA MONTRE, a TV movie starring Olivier Gourmet, denouncing drug use for cycling races. This story takes place during the first phase of the 1998 Tour de France in Ireland. This movie, I repeat, is very exciting and interesting too, a good character study concerning supporting racers, and not always the big stars. In short, it shows this sport from another angle. So many details are shown, as for a documentary.

It's 1998. Dominique "Dom" Chabol (Louis Talpe) is a veteran riding his last Tour de France. His only job is supporting the younger riders. He's not supposed to win anything, but dreams of a stage win. Sonny McElhone (Iain Glen) is the team masseur and chief doper. Dom gets replaced before leaving for the tour. As he starts to accept his fate, he gets a second chance.

This is ripped from the headlines. Dom is such a quiet character. He almost has no colors except when he starts connecting with the girl. It's all about his racing. The last visual should be him with the girl. Instead of the trophy girls, he should walk off the podium to kiss Lynn like Rocky style. I like all the details, but this is a bit quiet.

Its seems to be stupid, but then u remember someone called Armstrong So who knows, if it could be true? I mean.

This is not just another "sporting underdog wins the victory" movie. In this movie the good guys aren't that good, and we can really empathize with some of their immoral decisions. This is a very mature film with a plot that isn't so black-and-white. I started watching it skeptically, but couldn't stop watching until the very end.

The soundtrack is nice too, and the race sequences really transmit the excitement and energy of fierce athletic competition. Give it a try, it's a great movie.