Tour De France: Unchained aka that netflix thingy

[Ripper]

True. He actually ended up being pretty endearing to me.

I actually didn't find O'Connor on likeable whatsoever. He really seems like the kind of person who would benefit from intensive therapy to work out his own demons. He is likely quite difficult to coach, but I think he will find his way.

I think when you start assembling all the data points of interviews, on bike behavior, behind the scenes stuff (possibly staged to a degree), there are certainly some riders that come across as generally nicer people. Fabio seems pretty decent most of the time. Pidcock comes across as a very self-interested douche.

There is of course confirmation bias and any other number of lenses we look through. I'm not sure how much Netflix series like this changes people's minds, or reinforce the opinions. For me, for riders that I was not really thinking about and had no preformed opinion (O'connor, Phillipson, some team managers), it was pretty interesting.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I quite enjoyed season 2 compared to last season I must say. Was never really bored and there was some nice stuff even for very dedicated cycling fans like most of us

 

[kingjr]

It seems clear in any case that the show attracts the kind of crowd that also reads the tabloid press

 

[Barnacle Bill]

My thoughts are similar to many here, in terms of things I liked/disliked about the series, but overall I thought it was definitely worth watching.
- One of the things I disliked about season 1 was the 'fake' post-recorded race commentary they used, so I was glad to see them using a few more snippets of real commentary during the race this time. On the other hand Orla's contributions weren't my favourite, thankfully I'm not in a part of the world with coverage from Eurosport or whoever they are now.
- The show was far better for the inclusion of Pogi, of course, although I'm guessing some of his pieces to the camera were recorded after the race finished so he looks understandably subdued. But instead of being the enemy in the background of season 1 it's good to have more focus on him. Sometimes I find it hard to warm to crushing displays of superiority like we saw from him earlier this season but this was a reminder that he's human just like everyone else. Seeing him apologise to teammates after cracking one can't help wishing better for him this year.
- Clearly Pidcock and O'Connor didn't care if they came across as unlikeable and I'm not sure what the management of Alpecin were thinking with their 'hard men of cycling' routine.
- As opposed to Pidcock and O'Connor, Hindley and Carlos Rodríguez really came across as the sort of leaders one would want to ride for.
- Enjoyed the Mohoric win and interview ofc. Also the Tibopino farewell, although it seemed they were really trying to drum up the Madiot-Plugge drama, with Madiot raging about how he wouldn't tolerate anyone badmouthing his riders... then his retaliation boils down to pointing a beer in his direction after the race.

I was a bit surprised to see a very positive article from David Walsh on season two, I guess I assumed journalists would view this sort of series more dubiously given their regular involvement with the participants and probably better insight into what has been edited/exaggerated. It's behind a paywall but here's the opening snippet:

I thought I knew the Tour de France. Then I saw Netflix’s new series

I’ve been to most Tours since 1982 but the extraordinary, compelling storytelling of second series of ‘Tour de France: Unchained’ made me feel like I’d never attended even one

www.thetimes.com

Forty-two years have passed since my first visit to the Tour de France. Second-to-last stage of the 1982 race was into Aulnay-sous-Bois. Sean Kelly, the man we had come to see, got into the winning break that Saturday afternoon and as the best sprinter in a small group, he couldn’t lose. But he did. That’s sport. Next day in the centre of Paris, he asked his girlfriend to pay for our lunch. From a reluctant spender, this was true remorse.

I haven’t been to every Tour since then, just most of them. The race is less incredible now but more enjoyable, even if today’s sprinter Jasper Philipsen is not likely to pay for lunch after a bad day. After four decades, a certain familiarity with the Tour may be expected. Well, watching the second season of Netflix’s Tour de France: Unchained last week, it felt like I’d never been to the race. The series is that good.

For any film director, it’s not difficult to make the Tour look good. La belle France takes care of that. It is the storytelling that is extraordinary, explaining as it does the mystery of the Tour to those coming to it for the first time while providing compelling insight for those who think they know the race. Most of all, the eight episodes explore the humanity of those involved. These are young athletes prepared to tell us what they’re thinking, sometimes seeming immature, uncool, but always real.

 

[Brullnux]

I watched it quite late, but I enjoyed it. Didn't watch the first season but I found the chronology slightly confusing at times, though I understand why they did it (though they then went stage by stage at the end? ). Very easy watch, though.

The worst bit by far was the rider + girlfriend chats, with the possible exception of Urska bc she is a cyclist and could speak as a cyclist and Cav's wife Peta because they have a much more TV-friendly dynamic than the others.

They painted villains pretty explicitly with Alpecin and Plugge. Bora came across as the nice guys, as did CRod and Gall. French guys came across well too, and I didn't realise Asgreen was so weird.

Mohoric probably the most eloquent rider in the show, and holds the camera really well. Him and Cavendish are the most natural interviewees. I personally didn't find O'Connorthat bad, and it kind of explained his Giro Livigno outburst to me. He just really struggles to keep control of emotions, felt quite sorry for him. A good course of CBT would probably help, if he isn't doing something like that already. I also liked the Brailsford cameo, had like one minute of screen time and immediately just looked like the most fear-inducing arsehole boss you can have (bullying allegations not surprising, I must say!)

Race footage fantastic and makes it a good watch in and of itself. Basically the best highlights compilation you can get.

 

[Potomac]

Cant wait for the Netflix thing to come out next year. I especially wonder how they gonne play the no balls etc of Evenpoel towards Vingegaard and how they gonne portray that and angle that its possbiel different ones they can go for and the new comaraderie of Pogacar and Evenpoel.

Considering its the most packed TDF in ages its gonne be awesome nevertheless

camera angle for the balls ?

 

[Tymek]

Sorry for writing in that forgotten thread, but I’m just watching second season.

Don’t you think guys that O’Connor has some real mental issues? His psyche seems very weak. This imaginery rivalry against Hindley and some other things like „I’m not taking any media”. Others looks more calm than him.

Is it only for series or is this reality?

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Sorry for writing in that forgotten thread, but I’m just watching second season.

Don’t you think guys that O’Connor has some real mental issues? His psyche seems very weak. This imaginery rivalry against Hindley and some other things like „I’m not taking any media”. Others looks more calm than him.

Is it only for series or is this reality?

Most sport stars that make it to the world stage are uber competitive and plenty of them definitely have some issues.

Having said that I found the O'Connor hate based on the netflix show always exaggerated. I'm pretty sure the teams and the filmmakers encouraged the riders to be entertaining and over the top because outside of UAE and Visma, for most teams dubious coverage is still better than no coverage.
In 2022, Bora had a netflix team with them the whole season and in the end didn't even make it into the first season of the series, from a sponsors perspective that's a complete disaster.
So I'm pretty sure some sponsor and teams told their guys to be deliberately dramatic to make sure that the drama makes it into the final cut. I think O'Connor being annoyed about AG2R fully working with Hindley on stage 5 was authentic but mainly because he (at this point) was a top 5 competitor with O'Connors ambition and in the end going for the stage with Gall didn't work out. Him and Netflix making a big deal about the "Aussie" rivalry is probably 100% ***, I don't think either of them cares that much about that.

 

[Tymek]

Him and Netflix making a big deal about the "Aussie" rivalry is probably 100% ***, I don't think either of them cares that much about that.

Yes. That’s the point. Good to know that not only I saw it.

 

[yaco]

Sorry for writing in that forgotten thread, but I’m just watching second season.

Don’t you think guys that O’Connor has some real mental issues? His psyche seems very weak. This imaginery rivalry against Hindley and some other things like „I’m not taking any media”. Others looks more calm than him.

Is it only for series or is this reality?

I can fuly understand O'Connor being angry with his team working in the break to give Hindley time in the GC. There is nothing more competitive than two Aussies battling together.

 

[Rob5091]

No more Netflix thingy ... Seems people don't want reruns of Pogi & Jonas battling it out.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/netflixs-tour-de-france-unchained-set-to-finish-with-2024-series/

According to a report in Le Parisien on Thursday morning, the viewing figures for the most recent season of the series were 'judged to be average" across the board, and "a little disappointing" in France.

Production costs and payments to teams and Tour organiser ASO are also cited as factors in the decision to end the programme.

Edit - add - syncronicity or what?! Vanity Fair has a chinwag with chief content officer of Netflix, Bela Bajaria -
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywoo...ief-bela-bajaria-wants-even-more-of-your-time

The job is to entertain the world. ... The job is, do we make great things our audiences love? ... We are, first and foremost, an entertainment company.

Yep, seems the Netflix thingy in their eyes, was n't great, loved by their audience or entertainment.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

That is super weird, I thought surely everyone would be extremely excited and people would be glued to their screens wanting to ''witness history''.

 

[Wyndbrook]

By the time it's shown life's moved on, surely it's a winter programme, perhaps over Christmas.
That plus for me it's subscription for this , subscription for that, all too much.
Anyway I'm sure Warner and ASO will fill the void with their own superior offering, one more step towards world domination.

 

[Potomac]

As pointed out, this show was neither journalism, nor timely.

They need a show for cycling like HBO has for the NFL: Hard Knocks
A new episode every week in the 3 months leading up to the TdF

 

[peterfin]

Amazon Prime should start a series with Jeremy Clarkson as commentator. They should put him in a car to ... or maybe not

 

[Unchained]

No more Netflix thingy ... Seems people don't want reruns of Pogi & Jonas battling it out.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/netflixs-tour-de-france-unchained-set-to-finish-with-2024-series/

Edit - add - syncronicity or what?! Vanity Fair has a chinwag with chief content officer of Netflix, Bela Bajaria -
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywoo...ief-bela-bajaria-wants-even-more-of-your-time

Yep, seems the Netflix thingy in their eyes, was n't great, loved by their audience or entertainment.

UCI sitting on their hands,
Cycling News in less than @2 weeks reporting that races are cancelled due to funding, Netflix couldn't see the financial feasibility in making ( paying) another season of Unchained.
And all the services have measurements about older content, so the previous Unchained seasons must not have had many viewers going back to watch it again, or if someone comes across it while scrolling, not much interest. YouTube has confidential information available to content creators trying to monetize their videos.
YouTube knows how many people click on cycling videos, how long they stay. Netflix, Amazon other services all have same data..so when a service increase goes to $31 a month from 6, service probably doesn't see much risk in losing a big audience. They know how many people are watching bike racing content.
Putting responsibility on individual races, individual regions to build an audience, build popularity for bike racing is likely to give us this result.
Would a TV commercial for a bike race broadcast during Premier League, Bundesliga, NFL get people to watch a race? Or Netflix show? Don't know but it's obvious that getting people to watch bike racing content doesn't work when using organic, word of mouth techniques. I personally don't understand why creators don't buy banner ads from Cycling News trying to drive traffic to their sites or broadcast programs... Likely just too expensive. Cycling News has everything, have cycling audience, have multiple forum threads about the problems ( cost, difficulty in finding bike races on TV or Internet) Solutions are abundant and obvious, instead of each individual CN person searching and searching for were the race will be broadcast, just have a clickable link on CN for the race. That is problematic but CN already does it.. They want you to stay on site, but already have ads that have CN users redirected to other sites
The overlords of bike racing better figure out why people don't want the product, better figure out why Ryan Reynolds, Channing Tatum used a minor league football team for a coffee ad during the Super Bowl!! Where are the stars? Where is the TV and advertising revenue? What cycling stars are making movie cameos? TV commercials? Talk shows?
As many people point out.. Why would anyone want to watch old, stale content about a bike race that they didn't watch a few years ago when it was broadcast? Potomac makes point.. Backstory content is popular so inside views of training, locker rooms, conversation between coaches and teammates.. Proven formula for popular content.. Like Hard knocks and other similar things about different sports.. Bike racing completely missing the ball..

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf_sdt60BGY&pp=ygUEVUFFIA%3D%3D

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=we2M9xGB6vo&pp=ygUFVmlzbWE%3D

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mn5_VaIHjfg&pp=ygUNdHVkb3IgY3ljbGluZw%3D%3D


Is it terrible? No, but is it exciting, bringing fans and new people to the sport? Maybe, I don't think so. And just to punctuate just how everything is in flux..teams and riders are able to weigh the merits of going to Rwanda!! Can you imagine in another sport that the World Championship would be an unimportant event!! What is the UCI doing where the World Championship is a maybe!!!?

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XSuINoyDm4k&pp=ygUWY2hhbm5pbmcgdGF0dW0gd3JleGhhbQ%3D%3D

Why did someone think that using soccer players in an ad run during American football game, was money well spent? Why does bike racing have nothing similar? Maybe television executives see that British baking shows or home renovation reality shows have bigger audience than bike racing!! They better do something!!!

'Cycling is already a niche, and it seems like drawbridges are being pulled up': Netflix cancelling Tour de France: Unchained is yet another blow

After Eurosport's closure, Netflix scrapping its entertaining Tour de France show removes a gateway into the sport

www.cyclingweekly.com

Anyone see and hear the warning signs!!?

 

[awavey]

As pointed out, this show was neither journalism, nor timely.

They need a show for cycling like HBO has for the NFL: Hard Knocks
A new episode every week in the 3 months leading up to the TdF

hasnt stopped the F1 Drive to Survive, which unusually for a streaming show has made 7 seasons. The normal they expect for streaming is to get 3 max and get dumped, so Unchained is doing exactly what Netflix expected for it. its not a comment on the state of the racing or the sport, its just how they operate most of the time.

 

[saunaking]

Bike racing isn't missing any ball. Its great as it is. Once more money gets into the sport it will only get shittier.
All the ideas about changing the schedule and races are terrible.

Have fun watching Jonas vs Teddy vs Remco vs MVDP in circuit races in the middle east, Singapore and Vegas

edit- maybe Netflix is cancelling it because the series was ***. that's on the producers not the cyclists.

 

[Berniece]

Have fun watching Jonas vs Teddy vs Remco vs MVDP in circuit races in the middle east, Singapore and Vegas

Because no one like the WC

 

[tobydawq]

Because no one like the WC

Lol.

 

[carolina]

Netflix only cares about views, they don't care about quality. Unchained didn't attract enought views, so it was cancelled, like all the other dozes of shows they cancel. I'm suprised it lasted more then one season, to be honest.