The current key protagonists: Jonas Vingegaard (yellow) and Tadej Pogacar. Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
Netflix’s Tour de France: Unchained is the ultimate docuseries about the world's biggest bike race. If you’re a bike racing nut like me, you’ve likely already binged this series multiple times. If you are a Tour de France newbie and have no idea what to expect, then let me be your guide. I’ll explain what you need to know to follow along.
This post will focus more on Tour de France: Unchained's big cast of characters. Want to learn more about how pro bike racing actually works? Then check out our Beginner's Guide to the Tour de France.
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What is Tour de France: Unchained?
Racing for the finish. Photo: ASO/Pauline BALLET
If you've missed it in the last five years, F1: Drive to Survive has been one of the biggest docuseries hits Netflix has ever produced. It follows racers and teams, giving viewers an inside look at the world of racing. Tour de France: Unchained is essentially the road cycling version of Drive to Survive, and it’s even being produced by the same people (Quadbox and Box to Box Films).
During the Tour de France, camera crews are embedded within several teams, capturing all the behind-the-scenes action. You get to see how the previous year's race played out from the perspective of the riders and teams. Of course, you'll also get A LOT of action and drama.
So Tour de France: Unchained is reality TV?
Yes, it is as much reality TV as it is documentary. If you want a more objective view of the race, stick with watching the extended highlights for each stage of the Tour to see how all the action actually unfolds. Tour de France: Unchained doesn’t go stage by stage. Instead it focuses more on characters and storytelling, and like all reality TV and documentaries, a lot of the story is crafted in the edit.
Is that a bad thing? Well, that’s a matter of opinion. I’m all for it. As a fan, I recognized when conflict is manufactured through editing, music, or voiceover to amp up the drama. But I also appreciate the unprecedented access it gives me to the teams and racers. There’s so much cool and fun stuff you’d simply never see otherwise. You get to know some riders a lot better than you do in post-race interviews. And more than anything, it get me super hyped about the sport.
What Do You Need To Know To Watch Tour de France: Unchained?
The beauty of docuseries like these is that you need very little knowledge of the sport to enjoy it. Talking heads will provide plenty of exposition, walking viewers through the intricacies of the race, the riders, and everything in between.
There will be a basic explanation of what the Tour de France is, its history, and how it works, but if you want more detail, check out our Tour de France Explainer which covers the racing format and all the ways for riders to “win” (there are many).
The Tour de France Teams You Should Know
You'll get to know Jumbo-Visma really well. Photo: A.S.O./Jonathan Biche
22 teams go to the Tour de France every year. Camera crews follow most of the bigger teams listed below. Some teams change sponsors between seasons, so their team names will change too, but they're essentially the same team:
- AG2R Citroën (season 1) / Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team (season 2)
- Alpecin-Deceuninck
- Bahrain-Victorious
- BORA-hansgrohe
- EF Education-EasyPost
- Groupama-FDJ
- INEOS Grenadiers
- Jumbo-Visma (season 1) / Team Visma | Lease a Bike (season 2)
- Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl (season 1) / Soudal Quick-Step (season 2)
- UAE Team Emirates
Some of these are the top teams competing in the Tour. They have many of the best riders and drive much of the race drama. Others are smallers underdogs trying to fight the global powerhouses. Each episode is likely to focus on two or three specific teams and a key storyline from the Tour with interviews with the riders and team directors.
Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates, and INEOS Grenadiers are the big-budget teams fighting for the overall Tour de France win with insanely strong teams made up of the world’s best riders. Over the last 10 years, the Tour has always been won by a rider from one of these three teams.
AG2R and FDJ are hometown favorites. These smaller French teams lack the budget and star power of Jumbo, UAE, and INEOS, but they will throw out a few haymakers, fight for stage wins, and win hearts along the way.
Quick-Step is another big-budget team that specializes more in winning individual stages than the overall, but they haven’t had as much success in recent years. Can they regain their former glory?
Alpecin is a relative newcomer to the world stage, but they have Mathieu van der Poel, one of the biggest talents the sport has ever seen, and Jasper Philipsen, one of the peloton’s fastest sprinters. Their goal is to use overwhelming firepower to dominate sprint finish. Of course, their aggressive tactics rub some of their rivals the wrong way.
EF Education is the American underdog. They wear pink and, in true American fashion, they tend to have a bit more attitude and personality. Can they fight for wins or are they all flash?
It's worth noting that UAE Team Emirates and BORA-hansgrohe were not featured in season 1 of Unchained. They have much bigger storylines in season 2 though.
Tour de France Riders You Should Know
The great French hope, Thibaut Pinot. Photo: ASO/Pauline BALLET
- Tadej Pogacar
- Jonas Vingegaard
- Primoz Roglic
- Wout van Aert
- Geraint Thomas
- Tom Pidcock
- Thibaut Pinot
- Mathieu van der Poel
- Jasper Philipsen
- Fabio Jakobsen
- Ben O'Connor
- Jai Hindley
- Neilson Powless
The protagonists fighting for the overall Tour de France win are Tadej Pogacar (UAE) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma). In season 1, you can also add in Primoz Roglic (Visma) and Geraint Thomas (INEOS), but they didn't go to the Tour in 2024 so they aren't in season 2.
Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are both phenoms, former Tour winners, and likely the best riders of their generation. The battle between them for the overall win is the highlight of the entire race.
Expect plenty of focus on the three crossover superstars: Wout van Aert (Jumbo), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin), and Tom Pidcock (Ineos). They are currently three of the best riders in the world, and their intense rivalry has lasted over a decade, carrying over from their early days competing in cyclocross all the way to WorldTour road racing.
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is France’s great hope. France hasn’t won a Tour de France since 1985. It’s been a long drought, and though Pinot has shown great promise, he keeps falling short. Will his Tour end in redemption or more tears?
Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) are super fast sprinters hunting for their first Tour stage wins. Jakobsen nearly died in a horrific crash a couple of years earlier. Is he the fighter he once was? Philipsen was consistently been the bridesmaid but has recently come into form and become dominant. Will it go to his head. Can he keep winning?
Ben O'Connor and Jai Hindley are the top Australians. They're good GC contenders, but not as dominant or consistent of the winners. Can they reach the next level? Neilson Powless is one of the few Americans in the race, and he’s also riding for an American team (EF). America has had a rough time in the sport since he-who-shall-not-be-named (a.k.a. Lance Armstrong) went down. Powless is probably our best chance at modern Tour glory. Can he deliver?
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Team Directors You Should Know
Madiot addressing the press. Photo: ASO/Pauline BALLET
- Marc Madiot
- Patrick Lefevere
- Jonathan Vaughters
The Tour de France isn’t just about the riders and teams, the team directors play a big role too. They pick the roster, plan strategies, and generally keep the team motivated and together. Madiot, Lefevere, and Vaughters are among the most outspoken, so expect them to get a lot of screen time with talking heads. They’ll definitely be the source of a lot of drama, especially if they’re unhappy with how their team is performing.
Madiot runs FDJ, a French team, and carries a heavy burden on his shoulders due to the lack of French success over the years.
Lefevere runs Quick-Step and is known for stirring the pot with his media comments criticizing his own riders.
Vaughters runs EF and has been very outspoken in the past about making cycling a cleaner sport. Unsurprisingly, this has made him a polarizing figure.
My Tour de France Cliché Cache
As I said, Tour de France: Unchained is reality TV. Producers like to amp up the drama, suck you into the story, and leave you hyped. The formula has already been applied to plenty of other sports — F1, tennis, golf, etc. — so cycling fans probably have a pretty good idea of the cycling clichés we might see and hear.
If you want, you could play a drinking game where you take a sip every time you catch a cliché. You might get very drunk though. Here’s my list:
- Waxing poetic about the magic and spectacle of the Tour. Oh, the beauty.
- Explaining how unique cycling is, e.g., fans can get up close with the athletes! Wow!
- Describing the Tour as a “traveling circus.” Soooo many hyped fans.
- Comparing bike racing to combat or riders to soldiers/warriors. Badass...
- Talking about the extreme amount of calories riders have to eat. So crazy.
- Gratuitous crashing, maybe in montage form.
- Gratuitous shots of riders suffering, maybe in montage form.
- Explaining how cycling is actually a team sport: drafting and sacrificing results for your team, so selfless...
- Small teams complaining, “We don’t have the budget of the big teams.”
- Lamenting the fact that there has been no French winner since 1985.
- Doping and/or Lance discussion. You know they have to.
- A talking head saying it’s “A script not even Hollywood could write”... every damn time.
- Plenty of shots of Team Directors cursing, celebrating, or screaming into their radios in the team car. How else do we know it matters?
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