I agree. I’ve been into cars for decades and have autocrossed and done other car club type stuff but I could never get into F1. When you flip on the tv, it’s cars going around in circles. Now that I’ve been loving Drive to Survive, I could now watch an F1 race and have a clue as to what is going on.
I think cycling needs something like this. The riders are too anonymous. There’s little personality behind a helmet and wrap around sun glasses. All you get is a minute interview from the winner after the race.
It may be that the cyclist that watches 6 hours of Paris-Roubaix will not like this series. I hope there aren’t too many manufactured dramas in Unchained. F1 though seems perfect for the manufactured drama with team drivers often competing against each other and various teams within the pecking order vying for points. In cycling with 200 riders, it will be a bit harder to create this.
I hear you but the F1 series had subtitles as well. Now I imagine this series will have more subtitles but since this series will be covering seven teams I imagine there will be a fair amount of English speaking teams, etc.
With that being said I am not too sure if subtitles will be as much of a hindrance to grab casual, English speaking fans as one might suspect.
I wish it had come out a few months ago when I was doing most of my rides inside, but it makes sense as the tour is coming and people can watch this to become more familiar and then follow the tour.
I flicked it on this morning just for a minute while getting things ready for the day, Immediately I’m hit with subtitles, the name, the first speaking, is all French. I shut it off and I’ll watch it when I have time to actually sit down and watch.
I’m sure there are many people that will turn it on, say “oh it’s in French” and turn it off. I don’t remember the first episode of Drive to Survive but I’m pretty sure it didn’t start in any language other than English.
Just to be clear…I’m not complaining it’s not in my language. I don’t mind. I watch English shows with subtitles 90% of the time, and typically watch races in Spanish. Just saying I’m sure some will turn it off thinking the whole thing is French. I bet Drive to Survive would have been far less popular if it started in French.
I just watched the first two episodes while doing some Z2 work. They were fantastic. The high quality video is so good. There’s one scene where they have a camera angle that feels like you’re actually riding the cobbles. I’m super stoked. I wanted to ride more just to watch more.
I am halfway through the 3rd episode and couldn’t agree more. I did not want to stop watching… The only thing is that I find myself wishing for less vulgarity so I can watch it with my kids. Granted I understand and am not offended by the language at all - just would be cool to watch with youngins.
I really like how with each episode they set up some expectations and plot. “In this stage, this team is trying to do these things with these riders…can they do it?”
If anyone wants to watch this while doing something else, like laundry, you can change the audio to English so you dont have to be actively watching the screen the entire time.
Was 2022 the year Magnus Cort was riding solo in the lead through crowds in Denmark with a huge smile on his face? I wish they’d covered it in this, it was really inspiring to watch.
If Drive to Survive is anything to go by they sometimes go back depending on the team in focus. However having watched 2 episodes now that might not be the case.
I think they’re making the series accessible to viewers with little or no previous knowledge of cycling. So brief coverage of Alaphilippe being left out despite being world champion served to make the point that it’s a brutally hard sport and that Lefevre is a tough manager prepared to make hard decisions. The Cavendish omission basically just makes the exact same points again, so it wouldn’t add anything to the narrative.
If this was a second season and Cavendish had already been established as one of the personalities then I’m sure they would cover it.
Going to add spoiler tags to ensure I don’t ruin anything for anyone.
What you said makes sense in your post but I disagree with the ideas that Cavendish adds nothing to the narrative. Cavendish is on the brink of breaking the TdF stage wins records and due to his age 2022 was viewed as one of his last chances to do it and Quickstep picked Jakobsen over Cavendish.
I understand Alaphilippe being a WC not going to the TdF is intriguing but the episode seemed to imply Alaphilippe or Jakobsen when in reality it was Jakobsen or Cavendish.
