Tour de France: Au cœur du peloton

Great show, as good as Formula 1: Drive to Survive. But they left this out...

🚴 A CLASS ACT Tour de France, Stage 18 of 21 Lourdes to Hautacam (143km)

In Spandelles, Pogacar went wide and fell. By the time he got back on, Vingegaard - who had been wearing the yellow jersey since Stage 11 - had about 200m of daylight. Then an incredible gentlemanly act happened: when he realized his rival had fallen, Vingegaard refused to pull away. Instead, the yellow jersey on the line, he *waited* for the bruised Pogacar. When he caught up, Pogacar reached for Vingegaard's hand and the two competitors bumped hands. Sportscaster Phil Liggett commented, "In my 50 years in Tour de France, I have not seen anything like this."

At 5km, Vingegaard and Pogacar caught up with stage leader Van Aert (green jersey). Up for grabs were not only the stage win and yellow jersey but also green and polka dot points.

At 4.5km, Pogacar dropped! His green jersey points safe, Van Aert eventually left his team captain Vingegaard alone in front to win the stage. Vingegaard consolidated his supremacy by extending his lead over Pogacar by 1 minute 4 seconds to 3:26.

Three years ago, at 18 years old, Vingegaard was unknown, shoveling ice at a fish plant. This day, he is the leader at Le Tour, at the top of the Pyrenees. He might as well be at the top of the world.

NOTE: You can watch the above story on Peacock at the 30:34 mark of Stage 18 (each stage's highlights are still there as of June 2023).

Whoever directed this documentary, is genius!!!!

I will say a couple of things, even though I'm not a pro cyclist, but this will want to make you get involved with cycling!!!! BELIEVE!!!!

Point 2, like any other sport, you have to put in the hard work and push HARD! Even though I have my favourite cyclist, I have the utmost admiration for these Le Tour professionals going head to head in the cycling equivalent of Mike Tyson.

I'm just a recent bike rider inspired by this surge of energy documentary!

Once you watch this, you'd be hooked and thoroughly inspired to ride your bike!!

Great documentary by #netflix.

Netflix has done to the Tour de France what they did to Formula One racing. This show shows what it's like to be on the ground with some of the best bike racers in the world. Focussing on the best teams in the race, this series shows the rivalry, the challenges, and the victories achieved by both individuals and teams as they go through the gruelling stages of the race. Beautifully shot, this series shows just how epic and beautiful this race is, and that's saying a lot coming from someone who doesn't even own a road bike! (To be honest, I'm an avid mountain biker so it's certainly a related sport). I would 100% watch another season of this show.

This is a MUST if you love cycling. Improve sound with a 5.1 because you feel you're really inside the peloton. Great interviews and day-to-day misery and success from best top cyclists during last Tour. Also landscapes and POV are amazing.

Every chapter they follow a team and different riders highlighting one of them.

"Tour de France: Unchained" on Netflix offers a thrilling ride through the world's most prestigious cycling race. With stunning visuals and gripping narratives, it captures the essence of the competition and the athletes' relentless determination. A must-watch for sports enthusiasts and fans of the Tour de France.

Hope they produce another season!

As Episode 1 of "Tour de France Unchained" (2023 release; 8 episodes ranging from 34 to 49 min each) opens, we are in "Copenhagen, June 29, 2022", a couple of days before the 2022 Tour de France opens, and all teams are officially introduces to the adoring (and massive) Danish crowd. We then go to "28 days before" as we follow the Quick Step team, training for the Tour. World Champion Julien Alaphilippe is not in top form and legendary team manager Patrick Lefevere has some tough decisions to make... At this point we are less than 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this mini-series is from the same production team that has brought the "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" documentary. In other words: the production team was given unfettered access, uses any and all camera work and in your face footage, and amps up the underlying tensions to the max, and then some more. I cannot speak for the "casual" pro cycling fan (if there is such a thing). I've been a pro-cycling fan my entire life (I grew up in Belgium, where it is almost a religion, frankly), and I watch the Tour de France every single year. This mini-series covers last year's Tour, and even though I know the overall outcome, this mini-series is nevertheless riveting and mesmerizing from start to finish. We have never witnessed the Tour as we see it in this mini-series. If it sounds like I am gushing, well, it's because I am!

"Tour de France Unchained" premiered on Netflix just last night, and I binge-watched 5 of the 8 episodes already (with the remaining 3 to follow tonight). This was one of the most anticipated releases for me so far in 2023. Even with that, my expectations were met, and then some! If you are a fan of pro-cycling in general, or of the Tour specifically, I'd suggest you drop everything right now, and head over to Netflix to see for yourself and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE* Tonight I saw the remaining 3 episodes. This is the best sports documentary that I have ever seen, period. I was so into it that I was sad to see it conclude. MUST SEE.