The highly anticipated Netflix series on the Tour de France began streaming Wednesday at midnight Pacific Time.

The episodes became available at midnight Pacific Time, or 3am EDT (8am UK time Thursday morning, 5pm EDT in Sydney, Australia).

"Tour de France": "Tour de France: Unchained" and "Tour de France: Au cœur du peloton": This series, called "Au cœur du peloton" in French, consists of eight episodes, with all All episodes will be available for unlimited viewing on Thursdays. Each episode focuses on a decisive moment in the 2022 Tour de France, capturing the drama, anguish and emotion of the race. [AG2R Citroën Team, Alpecin-Fenix, EF Education-EasyPost, Groupama-FDJ cycling Team, Ineos Grenadiers, Bora-Hansgrohe, Team Jumbo-Visma, Team Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl all agreed to be part of the Netflix series and put camera crews on team buses and hotel rooms last July.

Each episode tells the story of the race and the inside story of the eight teams' leading competitors.

UAE Team Emirates, of which Tadej Pogacar is a member, chose not to participate due to privacy and sponsorship considerations, but the Slovenians and the rest of the Tour de France peloton were included in the episodes because of the extensive use of television footage and on-bike footage.

Television commentators such as Steve Scheinel of France, David Millar of the UK, and Aura Shennaoui of Eurosport/GCN help to explain the unwritten rules of professional cycling and the Tour de France.

A second series will be filmed during this year's Tour de France.

Tour de France: Unchained, produced by Quadbox (a joint venture between Quad and Box to Box Films), was the inspiration for the hugely popular Formula 1 series Drive to Survive," which sparked interest in motor racing, particularly in the United States. Tour de France organizers and the teams involved hope that "Tour de France Unchained" will spark similar interest: a few weeks before this year's race, "Tour de France: Unchained" will spark similar interest in professional cycling

Netflix.

Netflix has provided €8 million in production costs to produce the series. Tour de France organizer ASO and host broadcaster France Televisions each got 250,000 euros; the eight teams split the remaining 500,000 euros, with each team receiving 62,000 euros ($67,000).

Netflix released the official trailer last week after releasing a teaser video in March.

"The Tour de France is very simple. It's a bicycle race with 21 stages each day," Shiner explained, and Marc Madiot, team manager of Groupama-FDJ, added, "If we can go further in suffering and sacrifice, we may have a chance to win," and the clock started ticking to the start of the stage!

8

The eight episodes began with the emotion of the Danish Grande Pearl, with Quick Step's Yves Lampert winning the rain-soaked opening time trial and EF Education-Easy Post time trialist Stephan The film depicts the contrasting emotions of Bissegger. And it will depict Fabio Jacobsen, who is coming back from a crash at the 2020 Tour de Pollogne, and his sprinting match on the second stage.

Episode 2 will focus on the cobbles of stage 5 and the drama and panic when Jonas Vingegaard needed to change bikes multiple times.

"We had discussed what to do in the event of a puncture or crash. But we hadn't thought about what to do when the chain breaks. What do we do? Vingegaard admits in the episode.

Other episodes focus on the home country pressure on Grupama-FDJ and AG2R-Citroën for the stage win and the showdown between Vingegaard, Roglic and Pogacar on stage 11 to the Col du Grandon.

Other highlights include Tom Pidcock's victory in the Alpe d'Huez and a thrilling descent in the Galibier, and Nielson Powles' many close stage wins in the EF Education-Easy Post.

The final episode focuses on the final week of the race as Vingegaard defends the yellow jersey and fights off Pogacar, David Gaudou's battle for fourth place overall, and the sprinters' survival.

Cycling News will provide a first look and review of all eight episodes.