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Tour de France: Unchained, the Netflix documentary series following cycling’s biggest race, has been renewed for a third season.
The announcement was made by Netflix’s official French social media accounts on Wednesday morning, with the tagline “We’re off on another Tour!”.
Created as a joint venture between production companies Quadbox and Box to Box Films, the series sees camera crews embed within teams at the Tour de France, offering behind-the-scenes footage.
In the first season, which was released in June 2023 and followed the 2022 edition of the race, the teams included: Jumbo-Visma, Ineos Grenadiers, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, AG2R Citroën, Groupama-FDJ, Alpecin-Deceuninck and EF Education-EasyPost.
The second season went live on the streaming platform last month, and included two key additions, counting exclusive interviews with two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and all-time stage win record holder Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan).
After watching all eight episodes of the latest season, Cycling Weekly news editor Adam Becket concluded it is a “must watch” and provides “great insight into the biggest bike race of them all”.
The series has, however, come under criticism for its spotlighting of crashes, particularly in its trailers, the latest of which included a snippet of Jayco AlUla rider Lucas Hamilton somersaulting over a road barrier at the 2022 Itzulia Basque Country.
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At the time of the release of the first season, Yann le Moënner, CEO of ASO, the organiser of the Tour de France, said: “We are proud of this partnership with Netflix, France Télévisions and the Tour de France teams, which will offer fans a unique immersion behind the scenes.
“Through a narrative approach, which is additive to the competition itself, the public will be able to discover how the Tour de France represents the ultimate challenge for the competitors; in particular in terms of suffering, pushing their limits and team spirit.
“This project is part of our overall ambition to make our sport more accessible and meet an even wider audience.”
The second season of Unchained appeared to reveal tensions over leadership within Ineos Grenadiers at the 2023 Tour de France. “I was portrayed as the bad guy,” said Tom Pidcock after its release. “It just makes a drama, you know, and it’s not even in chronological order.”
Although the participating teams are yet to be confirmed for the upcoming third season, Cycling Weekly has seen camera crews following Ineos Grenadiers and Astana-Qazaqstan, among others, at this year’s race.
Already, there have been some historic narratives at this year’s Tour de France, with Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) becoming the first black African to win a stage, and Cavendish breaking the stage win record.
It is unknown when the upcoming season of Unchained will be released, although it is expected in June 2024.
Cycling Weekly also understands that discussions are going on over a potential series following the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
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