Wonderful Losers: A Different World (2017)
This film by Lithuanian director Arunos Matelis celebrates professional cycling’s domestiques and features Canadian pro cyclist Svein Tuft. It provides an inside view of professional bike racing seen from the point of view of a team of doctors which follows the race in a small medical car. Cycling’s domestiques carry water, block the wind and help set up their leaders for victory. Always working for others, they have little chance for a personal victory. These wonderful losers are true warriors of professional cycling. Watch the trailer here>>
One of our favourite cycling films. This film follows Belgian cycling star Eddy “The Cannibal” Merckx at the peak of his career through Europe’s best races. Eddy dominated an entire cycling generation winning and is regarded as the best cyclist of all time. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand tours (five Tours de France, five Giro d’Italia victories, and one Vuelta Espana victory), all of the five Monuments (Classics), three World Championships, the hour record, every major one-day race other than Paris-Tours, and extensive victories on the track…. A must-see for cyclists of all ages. It’s inspirational – a study in determination…” La Course En Tete – Head Of the Field (1974)
The Triplets Of Bellville (2002)
A French animated film by Sylvain Chomet. It’s the story of a young boy called Champion who lives a lonely life with his grandmother Madame Souza and only begins to realise his potential when he receives the gift of a bicycle. Several years later, Champion has developed into a handy bike racer, with his grandmother acting as a trainer, applying unconventional leg massages with egg whisks. On Champion’s maiden tour he’s kidnapped by French gangsters and Madame Souza and pet dog Bruno embark on an adventure to Belleville to rescue him. Chomet creates a fantasy world with a unique style of animation. Watch the trailer here.
David Millar The Time Trial (2017)
TIME TRIAL gives us an exhilarating and terrifying place in the race, providing an immersive experience as close to actually competing as you will ever see on film. David Millar, shrouded in darkness, declares an intention to rise again.
A sensory ride through the thrill and hardship of professional cycling. We are hurtled off a hillside, details blurring like watercolours. The euphoria and the fatigue, the highs and the lows. It’s as if it were ourselves struggling through the bumpy roads of France. David bluntly and fearlessly narrates his last season in the saddle, intimate and immediate, along with the intricate relationships of cyclist, road crew, fellow competitors, manic fans, and the media circus surrounding it all. 1h 22m Sport Documentary. Watch the trailer here.
Me And My Moulton (2014)
With a bright palette and witty dialogue, the animated short by Torill Kove tells the charming story of a seven-year-old girl and her sisters, who ask for a bicycle knowing full well that their loving yet unconventional parents will likely disappoint them. 13 min. Watch the trailer here.
60 Cycles (1965)
This short documentary follows the 11th St-Laurent long-distance bicycle race held in Quebec in the summer of 1965. There, participants from 13 countries covered 2 400 km of Gaspé countryside in 12 days–a course longer than those of Italy, Belgium or Spain. With the curving landscape of this most picturesque province as backdrop, you see here a sports event where the challenge seems more personal than competitive. 16min. Watch the film here.
Of Sport and Men (1961)
This feature documentary is all about sports. Here, sport is seen as a lesson in courage and discipline, and a peculiar form of beauty. The film covers 5 great sporting events. Part 1 covers the Tour de France bicycle race, the sports car race at Sebring, Florida, and the Spanish bullring. Part 2 covers British soccer and Canadian hockey. 68min. Watch the film here.
Riding Gravel Bikes with World Tour Pros – The Escape – Andorra with Svein Tuft (2018)
Svein Tuft, one of Canada’s best professional cyclists who lives in Andorra is known for his adventurous rides into the wilderness. His spirit of adventure and relaxed mindset is inspiring. Svein’s personality is captured nicely in this short video of him bike packing on the trails and roads near his home in the Pyrenees.
The roads Svein is riding on in the video are similar to, and not far away from, many of the routes we have used in the gravel tours we organize in the Pyrenees. There some of the best routes we have ridden anywhere. In 2019 we will offer an gravel/backroads tour this coming year during the summer months we again organize tours on the idyllic roads and trails. Please email us at [email protected] if interested.
Share your favourites in the comments below.
Don’t forget
Hell of the North (about Paris-Roubaix) and The Bicycle Thief (filmed in post-war Rome about the time that I appeared), both on Youtube!
I’m reading Le Metier again tio while away my time. Very good book