Netflix series Tour de France - "In the peloton": Season 1 - A complete success

"Tour de France: In the peloton" - The verdict on the first season of the Netflix series

Unique insights behind the scenes of the Tour de France

Unique camera angles, which allow viewers to experience the event up close, provide spectacular shots. They also get a first impression of the mindsets and intentions of individual teams. Journalists and ex-cyclists such as Steve Chainel, Orla Chennaoui and David Millar take on the role of explainer in order to bring cycling newcomers on board. In this way, they manage the balancing act between simple descriptions for cycling newcomers and interesting insights for long-time cycling fans. The series also creates excitement through direct duels such as Vingegaard against Pogacar, Pidcock against Powless in episode 5 or Philipsen against Jakobsen in the final stage.

The role of Pogacar & van Aert in the Netflix series

It's a shame that Vingegaard's great adversary Pogacar and his team UAE don't get a chance to speak. Without this important rider, one facet of the 2022 Tour de France is missing. The role of Wout van Aert, who is caught between being a stubborn rider and a helper for the team, is also controversial. He himself sharply criticises the series:

"It's quite disturbing that stories were written in the documentary that didn't exist."

This impression is confirmed in some of the duels created by Netflix itself: Gaudu and Thomas were indeed not far apart in the rankings, but the large time gap between the two did not actually allow for the drama that Netflix creates in the series. A little fake drama was therefore created in this series. Precise explanations are also missing in some places, leaving questions unanswered for cycling novices: Why can't van Aert win the Tour himself? What makes Alpe d'Huez so special? Why is the subject of doping only briefly touched on in the first episode?

"Tour de France: In the peloton" - a success

Nevertheless, the series "Tour de France: Im Hauptfeld" remains a success: shortly after its release, the series was already one of the top 10 most popular German series on Netflix. And quite rightly so: it shows in an exciting way how complex, intense and multi-layered cycling is. It also shows that cycling races can only be won with a functioning team and how much emotion is involved in this sport. Exciting insights behind the scenes and dramatic duels make the series particularly worth watching.

"Tour de France: In the peloton" - The plot of the Netflix series

Episode 1: The Grand Depart

The story starts with insights into the team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. The "Wolfpack" around team boss Patrick Lefevere decides against nominating the world champion during the preparations for the Tour de France Julian Alaphilippe. Instead, the top sprinter Fabio Jakobsen lead the Belgian team.

The team will then EF Education EasyPost and characterised as a relaxed and informal team. The team around team boss Jonathan Vaughters was unsuccessful before the Tour de France and is now under pressure to perform at the Tour. Their hopes rest on Stefan Bisseggerwho has a chance of winning the day in the time trial on the first stage. The Swiss rider crashes twice in the rain and clearly misses out on the stage win he was aiming for.

Then the focus of the Netflix series returns to Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Fabio Jakobsen, who is in with a chance of winning the following sprint stage. One of his rivals is Wout van Aert - one of the team's superstars Jumbo-Visma. Despite a crash by his team-mate Yves Lampaert, who was in the yellow jersey at the time, Jakobsen narrowly won the stage and the Belgian team was able to celebrate.

Episode 2: Welcome to hell

The second episode of "Tour de France: In the peloton" introduces the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma. Alongside Wout van Aert, the two favourites to win the Tour are now also introduced: Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard. Van Aert has a dual role in the team: First and foremost, he is supposed to help his two captains to overall victory in the Tour de France, but at the same time he also has to win stages. So he disobeys the team's instructions on the fourth stage. He did not wait for his captain Vingegaard on a climb and instead took the stage win as a soloist. The Dane, on the other hand, did not manage to pull away from his great rival Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

The fifth stage is a cobbled stage, which is then presented with all its difficulties and labelled the "Hell of the North". Vingegaard first has a defect on his bike, then Roglic crashes and dislocates his shoulder. "A nightmare for Jumbo-Visma, which loses valuable seconds to Pogacar.

Episode 3: The burden of a nation

Here Thibaut Pinot as the French star rider of the Tour de France with his history as a professional cyclist. His team Groupama-FDJ team boss Marc Madiot and his philosophy introduce themselves. It quickly becomes clear that the pressure on the French driver and his colleagues is particularly high.

You then get an insight into one of the other French teams in the Tour of France: AG2R-Citroën Team. Their top driver is the Australian Ben O'Connorwho finished fourth in the 2021 Tour de France. This year, however, he is lagging behind the high expectations after a crash.

Neither team succeeds in the mountain stage to the Planche des Belles Filles, which is why the AG2R-Citroën team changes its plan and aims for stage wins. Bob Jungels can secure the first stage win for a French team on stage 9, while O'Connor has to withdraw from the Tour de France for health reasons.

Episode 4: Attack, counterattack

The fourth episode of the Netflix series focuses on the battle for the yellow jersey. Vingegaard introduces himself once again explicitly with his history and his development as a cyclist. Then the team Ineos Grenadiers around the ageing captain Geraint Thomas introduced. Together with Jumbo-Visma, it is the most professional and strongest team in the field.

The 11th stage of the Tour de France, which is one of the most difficult mountain stages up to the Col du Granon mountain pass, is then described in detail in the Netflix series. In the group of favourites around Roglic, Vingegaard and Pogacar, the two Jumbo-Visma riders attack again and again and manage to make their big rivals falter: Vingegaard pulls out around three minutes on Pogacar. As a fair sportsman, the Slovenian comes to the winner after the race and congratulates him - from now on Vingegaard rides in yellow.

"You have to ignore the pain, or better still love the pain, in order to win" - Jonas Vingegaard

Episode 5: Breakneck speed

This episode is a duel between two worlds: On the 12th stage of the Tour de France to the famous Alpe d'Huez climb, two riders get a free ride. Tom Pidcock from the Ineos-Grenadiers team and Neilson Powless from the smaller EF Education EasyPost team. Powless made an early breakaway on the flat section, but was then caught by Pidcock on a technical descent. The Ineos rider then leaves his rival behind on the long final climb. As a result, Pidcock not only wins the stage, but his team-mate Thomas also crawls up to third place in the classification.

In the main field - Episode 6: Plan B

The team Alpecin-Deceuninck introduces herself in the 6th episode of the first season of the Netflix series. Her big star is Mathieu van der Poelwho is expected to secure stage wins for the team at the Tour de France. However, because the Dutchman has already won the Giro d'Italia and looks exhausted, he does not fulfil the requirements. In his place as captain Jasper Philipsen who is a gifted sprinter, but has yet to win a stage in the Tour de France after several attempts.

During the 15th stage, Jumbo-Visma's Vingegaard and key helper Steven Kruijswijk crash and are forced to abandon the Tour. Philipsen then sprinted to victory in a direct duel against his rival Wout van Aert from Jumbo-Visma. It was a day to forget for the Dutch team: The overall leader Vingegaard crashed, van Aert was defeated in the final sprint and Kruijswijk and the injured captain Roglic had to finish the Tour de France.

Episode 7: Everything for the podium

In episode 7, the duel between Geraint Thomas from Team Ineos-Grenadiers and David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ in the battle for third place in the classification. The Frenchman is characterised first as the team leader and his previous successes are highlighted. Although Gaudu dropped back on the 12th stage to Alpe d'Huez and was clearly behind third-placed Thomas, he moved up the classification on the following stages. On the 18th stage in the Pyrenees, there was a showdown in which Gaudu lost out to the experienced Thomas and the Brit was able to defend his podium position.

Episode 8: The Road to Paris

The final episode of the first season focusses on Vingegaard's overall victory in the Tour de France and the sprint to the finish in the final stage on the Champs Elysees. The sprinters around Fabio Jakobsen fight for survival in the mountains to be able to dream of victory in Paris. Meanwhile, Pogacar is trying to lure Vingegaard out of his shell in the battle for the yellow jersey. After he was able to take three seconds off the Dane on stage 17, he had to let go of the man in the yellow jersey on the following day. Thanks to his helper van Aert, he distanced Pogacar on a climb. In the time trial of the 20th stage, Vingegaard slowed down in the final metres and left the stage win to van Aert. The Dane finishes second and Pogacar in third place is now beaten.

The final stage is again characterised by a sprint, in which the duel between the two riders Philipsen and Jakobsen emerges. Philipsen wins the stage, while Jakobsen suffers a defect on his bike during the final sprint and is thus the tragic hero.