In Bilbao
Jonas Vingegaard didn’t mince words to talk about season 1 of the Netflix documentary “Tour de France: At the heart of the peloton” available since June 8 on the streaming platform. Asked 48 hours before the Grand Départ in Bilbao on the subject, the Dane indicated that he was “going to be more careful” about what he would say in front of the cameras this year in anticipation of season 2.
The winner of the Tour 2022 obviously did not appreciate the staging around his relationship with his teammate Wout van Aert. The two men indeed seem to have a great rivalry in certain sequences of the eight-episode documentary, plunging the viewer behind the scenes of the peloton and the Jumbo-Visma team in particular. “They create stories that don’t exist,” said the Scandinavian, who however acknowledged that the series in itself is “a good thing for cycling”.
A criticism that recalls those of some Formula 1 drivers who also felt that the American streaming giant had scripted certain rivalries in the paddock too much in Formula 1: Drivers of their destiny. In an interview with Sporza, Wout Van Aert recently explained: “I finally got to take a look. It may seem strange, and yet it’s true, even if I play one of the main roles, I didn’t know what we would see. It’s quite disturbing to see that the documentary contains non-existent stories. For me, the series is about agitation.” And to regret: “Jonas and I are best friends. The focus is on the times when it’s hard to make the right choice, but there are also so many times where we’ve strengthened each other, where we’ve worked together. It’s a shame that it was deleted…”
Asked about the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Bilbao Vingegaard, to whom Tadej Pogacar stuck the label of favorite of the Tour de France, said Thursday that he could “say the same thing” of his Slovenian rival, while the psychological warfare began Thursday two days before departure. “In reality it doesn’t matter who is the favourite, it’s the strongest who will win in the end,” added the leader of the Dutch team, flanked by his faithful teammates Wout Van Aert and Christophe Laporte.