If you are a big cycling enthusiast, whether it's road cycling or mountain biking, you surely don't miss the stages of the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, and the Vuelta a España in front of the TV. But you don't have to wait for a grand tour to enjoy cycling on television. Documentary cinema has also been inspired by this sport to create great documentaries that will not leave you indifferent. Here I recommend these 5 pieces for the next time you feel like a movie and blanket session.
Clean Spirit, Inside The Tour (2014)
A very current documentary that shows how a team experiences the biggest competition in cycling, the Tour de France. In this case, the film delves into the Argos Shimano team and what the day-to-day is like in the French tour through the eyes of its two main stars at the time, the sprinters Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. https://youtu.be/xPuhtJROgoA The documentary is available on the Netflix video platform.
The Armstrong Lie (2013)
Like it or not, Lance Armstrong marked a before and after in the world of cycling. In this documentary, we can see how one of the biggest frauds in the world of sports was carried out: the doping network that led him to win 7 Tours de France (from which he was later stripped). The documentary contains harsh testimonies that reflect the illegal and unsportsmanlike practices that some cyclists, like Lance Armstrong, were willing to carry out to reach the top. https://youtu.be/Brb6c5U4r-U The documentary is available on Netflix.
10 days, 4 hours and 39 minutes (2013)
A documentary that tells the adventure of Julián Sanz, the Spanish ultradistance cyclist, and his support team in the Race Across America. The adventure consisted of nothing less than pedaling 4,900 kilometers in a non-stop format across the United States. The challenge was to achieve it in a maximum of 12 days, competing against the best cyclists in this specialty. https://youtu.be/vLVpHtMaBBw You can watch the full documentary on YouTube.
Pantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist (2014)
Marco Pantani is, for some, the best climbing cyclist in history. His unique way of attacking, his headband, and his shaved head earned him the nickname The Pirate . After winning the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 1998, doping accusations soon emerged, which he always denied, but which ultimately proved to be key in the decline of his carrera. The circumstances of his death only served to increase his legend. https://youtu.be/xfN3uxk-vRs The documentary is available on Netflix.
Luis Ocaña, the Tragic Hero (2015)
The television program Informe Robinson dedicated an episode to the figure of Luis Ocaña, one of the great legends of Spanish cycling. An tireless fighter, in this report we can see and relive through images and testimonies his beginnings, his incredible battles against the best cyclist of his generation, Eddie Merckx, and unfortunately, his tragic end. https://youtu.be/Iq8cKwosHiU The documentary is available on Youtube.