Our list of the best cycling films, series and documentaries on the most popular streaming platforms Amazon Video and Netflix. Plus: Which cycling films and documentaries are still worth watching and what there is to discover on YouTube about road cycling.
Bicycle film tips on Amazon Video
Wonderful losers: Another world (documentary, 2017)
From the car of the Giro doctor, this film documents the suffering and fascination of the Giro d'Italia. Up-close insights that are otherwise not seen on television. A true masterpiece by Lithuanian director Arunas Matelis, which has won several awards.
Eat.Race.Win (documentary series, AUS/2018)
The next of our film tips revolves around the Australian team Orica-GreenEdge at the 2017 Tour de France, focussing not (only) on the pros, but also on the helpers around them, in particular chef Hannah Grant. How do professional cyclists eat? What challenges await the support staff when shopping and preparing in the kitchen truck? Exciting insights into the everyday life of all the helpers who keep a professional team together.
The High Road - Nonstop Across The Himalayas (documentary, AUT/IND 2015)
A film team accompanies extreme athlete Jacob Zurl on his bike ride through the Himalayas. He wants to cover the legendary high-altitude route in just 40 hours. His martyrdom is palpable in the thirty-minute film. Occasionally there is no explanatory voice-over. For racing cyclists with long-distance ambitions, however, this is still a captivating film.
Premium Rush (feature film, USA/2012)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt races through the streets of New York City as a young bike courier. His mission: to deliver an envelope to the other side of the city in a maximum of 90 minutes. Simple story, but impressive action scenes with fixie bikes. Casual! And that's why it's on our list of film tips.
Game Changers (documentary, USA/2019)
Have we been eating the wrong food? Yes, says the film by US director Louie Psihoyos and gives numerous top vegan athletes and scientists a chance to have their say. The film's reckoning with the meat industry is coherent and exciting. Although most of the athletes interviewed come from the world of weight training, football or boxing, the film is also interesting for racing cyclists, as it shows a refreshingly different view of consumption and sports nutrition.
Tainted Blood (documentary, USA/2017)
The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles were a triumphant ride for the US cycling team with a record-breaking haul of medals. Then came the doping scandal: seven cyclists tested positive, an entire federation became embroiled in dubious dealings. And that was just the beginning...
Bicycle film tips on Netflix
Icarus (documentary, USA/2017)
In his Oscar-winning film, US amateur racing driver Bryan Fogel delves into the world of doping with a Russian scientist - Putin's most wanted whistleblower. At breakneck speed, Fogel's self-experiment develops into a journey through several decades of Russian doping history and turns into a dark political thriller.
Film tips: More cycling films
See You In Time (Series, TWN/2013)
Taiwanese series about professional racing cyclist Feng Ying. His life comes apart at the seams when he decides to rebuild his grandfather's racing team and falls in love with Ji Zi Qi. Suddenly he receives mysterious text messages from the future that foretell a tragic end. A curious mixture of sports drama, romantic comedy and end-time trash. The series can be seen on Rakuten Viki.
Thereabouts (documentary, AUS/2014)
The next of our film tips is about Australian professional Lachlan Morton. In the 2013 off-season, he and his brother Gus set off on an 11-day, 3000 kilometre trip from their parents' home in Port Macquaire to Uluru, the rocky national shrine of the Aborigines in the heart of Australia. The somewhat well-worn formula of the travel film usually works here, because you can understand what motivated the two Aussies to make the journey: The longing for the feeling of unrestricted freedom on a bike. The complete film on Youtube:
The Accidental Death of a Cyclist (documentary, UK/2012)
Documentary about the sporting life of cyclist Marco Pantani, who was one of the best mountain bikers of all time. Pantani died just a few years after his greatest sporting triumph, winning the Giro d'Italia and the Tour des France in one year. The documentary attempts to get to the bottom of the connections between man, sporting performance, doping and the tragedy of death. Moving.
Film tips: The Road Uphill (documentary, 2011)
Having travelled to the 2011 Tour de France with high hopes, the Luxembourg Schleck brothers were only beaten by one man in the battle for the overall standings: Cadel Evans. The Australian surprisingly won the Tour, Andy came second and Fränk third. The documentary accompanies their team Leopard-Trek to the massage bench and into the shower. Höllentour in Luxembourgish is one of our film tips - available on iTunes.
Il Lombardia (documentary, NED/2011)
What makes the Tour of Lombardy so special? With numerous interviews with pros such as Robert Gesink and Paolo Bettini, the documentary explains what makes the "Race of the Falling Leaves" a legend and why racing cyclists dream of the climbs to Madonna di Ghisallo and Muro di Sormano like no other autumn classic. to see at iTunes.
Film tips: The Flying Scotsman (feature film, UK/2006)
The next of our film tips is about Graeme Obree, an unemployed Scotsman who shocked the cycling establishment in 1993: he broke the world hour record in track cycling with his unusual sitting position and a racing bike he built himself from scrap metal and washing machine parts. A nobody who comes from a poor background and suffers from depression all his life becomes a cycling star overnight. But then he has to watch as the officials of the UCI cycling organisation strip him of his title and turn his victory into a defeat. This plunges him into a crisis from which he tries to escape with a sensational comeback... A true and gripping cycling story!
Film tips: Höllentour (documentary, D/2004)
Team Telekom at the 2003 Tour de France: professional cyclists Erik Zabel and Rolf Aldag give an insight into their lives and suffering between the individual stages of an agonising tour. Subjective and without a classifying narrative level, the film's strength lies in the closeness to the protagonists. A gripping documentary.
The Great Race of Belleville (animated film, FRA/2003)
The multi-award-winning film was produced in France, Belgium, Canada and Great Britain. Precisely because all the characters are very monosyllabic, an exciting dynamic develops until the big climax of the village: the big bike race. Funny, wacky, suitable for children!
Shooting trip to San Remo
This comedy from 1968 is also one of our film tips. It is set in 1901 and is about the Paris-San Remo race. Jule Auguste Duroc has used all his family's resources to invent an advanced racing bike with a chain idler. He wants to have it tested by his brother-in-law, a racing cyclist, but has to flee with the bike from a bailiff and suddenly finds himself in the first race from Paris to San Remo. A film with entertaining situation comedy in which comedian Bourvil shows all his skills.
Le Vélo de Ghislain lambert (FRA/BEL, 2001)
In Germany, the film starring Benoit Poelvoorde as a neo-pro with very big goals and a hand for unfair performance enhancement is known under the title "Das Rennrad". The Belgian-French co-production takes a cynical and humorous look at cycling in the 1970s: Ghislain Lambert was born on the same day as Eddy Merckx and wants to be just as successful as "the cannibal". To achieve this, the water carrier will soon use any means necessary... - available at Amazon.
Film tips: A Sunday in Hell (documentary, DAN/1977)
Paris-Roubaix is still considered the toughest one-day race in the world. This iconic documentary from the 1970s shows just how much greater the hardships were for the riders when suspension seat posts and wider tubeless tyres were still unknown. The race is told from the perspective of the riders, organisers and fans, and the chaos on the notorious cobblestones of France is literally in your face. An empathetic portrait of fascinating carnage. Must watch!
