The Netflixification of the Tour
A new series of 'Tour de France' starts on July 1
by Lionel Birnie
Like a lot of cycling fans, I have spent the past week or so watching Unchained, the Netflix documentary about the 2022 Tour de France and for this week’s episode of the podcast, Daniel and I spoke to the series producer James Gay-Rees.
His filmmaking palmarès is impressive. The sports films he’s been involved in include Senna, Maradona and Drive to Survive, the Formula 1 series that set the template for tennis and golf versions of the same idea and kicked off the so-called Netflixification of sport. Now it’s cycling’s turn and the Tour de France organisers hope that a Netflix series can expose the sport to a different type of viewer.
My first impression was that it was slick, polished, expensive-looking, fast-paced and dynamic. If the intention was to drag the Tour away from the soothing television coverage, it succeeded. Often, watching the Tour is as much about the bucolic countryside moving past us as if our television screen was a big window into France; the soundtrack of helicopter blades, motorcycles and gentle clapping and cheering does just enough to fight the effect of mid-afternoon at the height of summer on our heavy eyelids. Unchained was the Tour de France with most of the boring, quiet parts edited out.
And, in a way, that made me crave the boring, quiet bits of the three-week journey around France all the more because they are the parts that elevate the excitement and help us to process the drama.
Unchained must’ve been a mammoth undertaking. A huge crew of people following eight teams at the 2022 Tour de France, capturing hours and hours of footage, not quite knowing which storylines would emerge and how they would play out. As James put it they ‘placed bets’ on what the key themes of the Tour would be, hoping they’d capture enough material, and then it was down to James and his team to assemble a coherent, non-linear story that would appeal to a Netflix viewer accustomed to moving on to something else if their attention isn’t grabbed sufficiently hard soon enough. Quite a task, especially with a sport as idiosyncratic as cycling.
As James pointed out, he wasn’t making a highlights film of the 2022 Tour de France and so the chronology was less important. The series served as an experience, an immersion into the heart of the race, a look at the headlines, rather than a forensic documentary re-telling, and it was all the better for that. Hitting the screens almost a year after the race, that was probably essential.
Nevertheless, it served as a great recap, a reminder of storylines yet to be resolved, and further whetted the appetite for this year’s Tour. Certainly it was more enrapturing than watching the Critérium du Dauphiné, which – in the absence of Tadej Pogačar – suggested that Jonas Vingegaard is starting the Tour half a stage ahead of everyone else.
The photo at the top is of Mitch Docker, me and François Thomazeau – who’s looking off into the middle distance with a Gallic je ne sais quoi – in Copenhagen at the start of last year’s Tour de France. We will be back together in Bilbao for the start of the Tour. As I said last week, François will be with us until the Pyrenees, Mitch will hand over the baton to Ian Boswell midway through, and another piece of the jigsaw for the final week has been confirmed. I’m delighted to add two new voices to the team for the Tour and Tour de France Femmes.
Richard Abraham will join The Cycling Podcast for the final week of the Tour. He’s been writing about cycling since 2011, previously for Cycling Weekly and Rouleur and he appeared on the very first episode of Explore, talking about his experience riding the Transcontinental. He’ll take a break from his current project – working with former Orica-Scott rider Svein Tuft on his autobiography – to add his expertise to the podcast. And, Denny Gray, who is the driving force behind The British Continental website, will join Rose for the Tour de France Femmes.
Online now: In the team car
Recorded during the 17th stage of the 2017 Tour de France, from La Lure to Serre Chevalier, Richard Moore took listeners inside the Cannondale-Drapac team car to hear what it’s like to be in the thick of the action in the mountains. I remember that day vividly because, with Richard off for a day trip, it meant François left his nest in the back and joined me in the front of the car as we drove through the Alps.
We stopped for lunch, we passed a field where François had competed in the French national cross-country championships years ago, and I put what I wanted on the stereo. We listened to an episode of the BBC’s Desert Island Discs, in which guests pick eight songs that mean something to them and tell the story of their life. The guest on this particular episode was John McEnroe, the brilliant but sometimes wayward, tennis player.
When the episode finished, François, who had been part of the press team at the Roland Garros tennis tournament for years, said, as cool as you like. ‘I met John McEnroe many times. He’s a great guy.’ Classic François.
Anyway, In the team car is a great episode and a reminder of just what a deft touch Richard had when it came to just letting the recorder capture the moment.
The 2019 Tour de France Roadtrip
The third and final delve into our archive as we build up to the Tour de France brings the re-release of The 2019 Tour de France Roadtrip, which will be out for Friends of the Podcast subscribers on Monday.
It’s another two-parter, starting at a railway station in Kent, southern England, as Richard and I set off for the grand départ in Brussels. Once there, we meet up with François. There’s a live event at the Brussels Beer Project, where we’re joined by Orla Chennaoui, Jonathan Vaughters and Ciro Scognamiglio. There’s Champagne tasting, a terrible Alex Dowsett impression and Richard’s memories of racing against the Festina and US Postal Service teams without any EPO.
In part two, there’s a lengthy trip down memory lane to recall the details of the 1989 Tour – not entirely accurately – talk of laundry strategy, a brush with andouillette at a Parisian brasserie and the shocking discovery of carrot in the cassoulet.
How to listen to Friends of the Podcast episodes?
It’s as easy as one, two, three
We had an email from a listener asking how to find the archive of Kilometre 0 episodes from 2015 to 2019 so I thought it was worth explaining how to listen to the Friends of the Podcast episodes once you’ve subscribed. It’s really easy – when you know how.
The Cycling Podcast: First of all, this is where we post all our weekly episodes, our grand tour stage coverage, The Cycling Podcast Féminin, Service Course and Explore. It requires no subscription, it’s free to access and is available to everyone on all major podcast platforms.
Friends of The Cycling Podcast: This is our paid subscriber feed available to everyone who signs up as a Friend of the Podcast. It features more than 100 episodes, and it’s where our 2023 Tour de France Kilometre 0 episodes will appear. Sign up here. You’ll then receive an email with instructions for how to add the feed to your favourite podcast app in a couple of easy steps.
Kilometre 0 Archive 2015-2019: When you subscribe as a Friend of the Podcast the welcome email will also give details of how to add the separate Kilometre 0 Archive feed which includes episodes from the Giro, Tour and Vuelta.
Tour de France theme music
Our producer Tom Whalley has been busy this week crafting, among other things, the opening title music and jingles you’ll hear in our Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes coverage this July.
We often get asked about the music in the shows. Tom suggested our Tour de France theme when we wanted a change in 2016. It’s a track called Ride On by a French band called Santoré and, as Tom says, it has the perfect Kraftwerk vibe with just a hint of the old Channel 4 Tour de France music.
Since we launched Kilometre 0 the title music has been an instrumental version of Home by Thirteen Senses.
Great piece Lionel, feeling the excitement building for the Tour. I loved re listening to the 2017 Tour, hearing Richard’s voice reminded me of how much I miss him and his sense of fun, often at your expense. I confess to laughing out loud a few times - sorry Lionel !
Thanks for sharing the music! It has gotten me even more excited for the Tour than watching the Netflix series! It brings a smile to my face every time!